[josm-dev] License clarification for JOSM plugins

[Gervase Markham]

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