From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from us-smtp-delivery-124.mimecast.com (us-smtp-delivery-124.mimecast.com [170.10.133.124]) by sourceware.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 002F23857415 for ; Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:43:36 +0000 (GMT) DMARC-Filter: OpenDMARC Filter v1.4.1 sourceware.org 002F23857415 Received: from mimecast-mx01.redhat.com (mimecast-mx01.redhat.com [209.132.183.4]) (Using TLS) by relay.mimecast.com with ESMTP id us-mta-344-yg3wly7ZOsuKZfpMq414XQ-1; Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:43:35 -0400 X-MC-Unique: yg3wly7ZOsuKZfpMq414XQ-1 Received: from smtp.corp.redhat.com (int-mx03.intmail.prod.int.phx2.redhat.com [10.5.11.13]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mimecast-mx01.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B2F828049D0; Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:43:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: from greed.delorie.com (ovpn-112-111.rdu2.redhat.com [10.10.112.111]) by smtp.corp.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5ED5160861; Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:43:31 +0000 (UTC) Received: from greed.delorie.com.redhat.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by greed.delorie.com (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id 15FIhUvC326737; Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:43:30 -0400 From: DJ Delorie To: Paul Eggert Cc: carlos@redhat.com, libc-alpha@sourceware.org Subject: Re: Seeking input from developers: glibc copyright assignment policy. In-Reply-To: <9f0acc2d-0e8c-9a25-b753-71c90ffa96d6@cs.ucla.edu> Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:43:30 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.79 on 10.5.11.13 X-Mimecast-Spam-Score: 0 X-Mimecast-Originator: redhat.com Content-Type: text/plain X-Spam-Status: No, score=-6.4 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, DKIMWL_WL_HIGH, DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU, DKIM_VALID_EF, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H4, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_WL, SPF_HELO_NONE, SPF_PASS, TXREP autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on server2.sourceware.org X-BeenThere: libc-alpha@sourceware.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: Libc-alpha mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:43:38 -0000 Paul Eggert writes: > On 6/14/21 8:18 PM, DJ Delorie via Libc-alpha wrote: >> The DCO means we will never change the version >> of GPL we use > > If the DCO really means that then it could be trouble, as copyright law > mutates and the LGPL clause that lets you redistribute under later > versions is an important escape hatch to deal with future changes to > copyright law. > > But I don't understand why the DCO really means that; could you explain? If N people collectively own copyright, then all N need to agree in order to change the licensing terms. The Linux kernel is stuck at GPL2 for this reason; they effectively can't get all the copyright owners to agree to change it. DCO means that N > 1 for glibc. The higher N is, the harder it is to get agreements to change. Note that the 'or later versions' clause does NOT let anyone arbitrarily change the license! If $person takes a copy of glibc and distributes it to $person2 under the terms of GPLv4, then $person2 still has the "GPLv3 or later" option; they obtain their license from the owners, not from the intermediates, so how the intermediates choose to redistribute is - from a license point of view - irrelevent. So once our DCO count is high enough, glibc is stuck with "GPLv3 or later". Folks (including us) will always have the option of following a later GPL, but they will also always have the option of following GPLv3. Of course, the usual IANAL.