The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today released the fourth and “last call” draft for version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), the world's most widely used free software license. The Foundation will hear comments on the latest draft for 29 days, and expects to officially publish the license on Friday, June 29, 2007.
The new draft incorporates the feedback received from the general public and official discussion committees since the release of the previous draft on March 28, 2007. FSF executive director Peter Brown said, “We've made a few very important improvements based on the comments we've heard, most notably with license compatibility. Now that the license is almost finished, we can look forward to distributing the GNU system under GPLv3, and making its additional protections available to the whole community.”
The FSF has also published an essay by Richard Stallman on the benefits of upgrading to GPLv3. “Keeping a program under GPLv2 won't create problems,” he writes. “The reason to migrate is because of the existing problems which GPLv3 will fix, such as tivoization, DRM, and threats from software patents. . . . Further advantages of GPLv3 include better internationalization, gentler termination, support for BitTorrent, and compatibility with the Apache license.”
Changes in this draft include:
* GPLv3 is now compatible with version 2.0 of the Apache License.
* Distributors who make discriminatory patent deals after March 28 may not convey software under GPLv3. Novell is not prohibited from distributing this software because the patent protection they arranged with Microsoft last November can be turned against Microsoft to the community's benefit.
* Terms have been added clarifying how you can contract for private modification of free software, or for a data center to run it for you.
* A reference to a US consumer protection statute has been replaced by explicit criteria, for greater clarity outside the US.
More information about this draft including rationale documentation detailing the latest changes is available at http://gplv3.fsf.org; Stallman's essay, Why Upgrade to GPL Version 3, can be found at http://gplv3.fsf.org/rms-why.html. Since this is the "last call" draft, the FSF is strongly encouraging community members to scrutinize the license text and leave feedback through the web site.