[OSM-talk] QT4 [WAS:N00b experiences]

[Robert Hart]

> Couldn't somebody fork QT then if the open source version of it is under
> the GPL, and re licence it under the LGPL?  This ability to fork is one
> of the fundamental ideas of free software.

Nope. You can only re-license code that you have the copyright on, so most
forks are under the same license and terms as the original code.

The exception is if you want to use a less permissive license. i.e you can
make LGPL code GPL only (because the license explicitly allows that), or
certain BSD-licensed code GPL, or LGPL, because BSD lets you do everything
that GPL does.

The only other way to change the license is to contact all the copyright
holders of code in a project and get their permission. This is impossible
for many long running projects. This is why some projects will only include
your code if you assign your copyright to them. This gives them the ability
to change the license.

Rob




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