[josm-dev] License clarification for JOSM plugins
Gervase Markham
gerv at gerv.net
Mon Apr 14 21:18:35 BST 2008
Gabriel Ebner wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 08:42:23PM +0100, Gervase Markham wrote:
>> Putting "GPLv2 or later" headers on all the files would not require
>> seeking the permission of anyone. No file has been restricted to "GPLv2
>> only" by a header,
>
> Copyright usually works the other way round. You retain all rights, including
> modification, sublicensing, etc., until you explicitly give a permission to do
> that.
Quite right. And JOSM is currently under the GPL without specifying a
version number, as I have argued in my previous post. That means that
"GPLv2 or later" is actually a restriction, not an expansion of the
current situation.
>> and the GPL says that if no version number is
>> specified, then any can be used. Adding headers like that would make
>> things much more clear.
>
> Do you have any sources on that? My copy of the GPLv2 only explains what an
> "or later" clause is supposed to mean (article 9), not that it is supposed to
> hold "by default".
It says "if a version number is not specified, any version can be used",
and I explained in my previous message why a version number has not been
specified.
Gerv
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