Torvalds Says No GPLv3 For Linux
One of the General Public License's biggest supporters will not be converted to version 3 out of objections over its position on digital rights management. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux is the first to take issue with the first revision of the GPL in a decade and a half.
"I don't think the GPL v3 conversion is going to happen for the kernel, since I personally don't want to convert any of my code," he wrote on the Linux Kernel mailing list Wednesday evening.
At issue for Torvalds is the provision within GPLv3 that opposes digital rights management and would apparently open up parts of the kernel to copying. He says that GPLv2 currently prevents this, but GPLv3 would not.
"The Linux kernel is under the GPL version 2. Not anything else. Some individual files are licensable under v3, but not the kernel in general," he argued. "I think it's insane to require people to make their private signing keys available."
The first draft of the revision has been released to the public, and the Free Software Foundation is inviting comment from the software community at large. A second draft of the license is expected in the summer, with a final draft set for fall. The final version of GPLv3 will be released no later than spring of 2007.
Some issues to be undertaken by the new version of the license include protection from companies who attempt to sue GPL developers over patent issues, GPL software use on DRM-capable devices, and modifications to policies surrounding how GPL licensed software can be used on the Internet.
"The guiding principle for developing the GPL is to defend the freedom of all users," Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman has said.