Re: [webmin-l] Virtualmin Professional license

[Nathan K. <na...@ve...>]

On Fri, Sep 16, 2005 at 06:05:06PM -0700, Barry wrote:
> The beef, in a nutshell, is that doing so appears to be an unprecedented 
> interpretation of the GPL.
>
> I am willing to stand 100% corrected and say so publicly if someone 
> shows where this is an accepted interpretation of the GPL by the fsf, 
> and the gpl defense community as a whole.

I appreciate your willingness to test the idea.  I think both of us
are more interested in learning what the actual answer is, rather to
simply trying to convince people we are right.  It's just that we are
both equally convinced that we are right.  So...

Exactly what proof would you accept?  I'm a little leary of the 'and'
in your last sentence, since it would be hard to establish the 'as a
whole' part.  Is there an individual of suitable stature (employed or
not by the FSF) whose opinion you would be willing to trust?

And exactly which interpretation we are talking about?  Can we state
it as: "Assuming that a previous version of a body of code has been
made available under the GPL, is it necessarily illegal for the
undisputed owner of that code to offer to license a newly created
derivative of that code under terms not compatible with the GPL?"

Depending on your choice of arbitrator (and any revisions to the
question), I'd be willing to wager up to $1,000 USD on a 'no' answer.
The money would be escrowed in advance, you would win on a 'yes', and
the bet would be cancelled on any answer requiring equivocation.  Or I
could also be happy with a smaller token bet if you would prefer.

Nathan Kurz
na...@ve...

Joe: I realize this discussion isn't specific to Webmin, but I think
it is a very important one.  If future developers are afraid to
license code under the GPL because of fear that it can then never be
used under anything but the GPL, I fear it will harm the future of
open source software.  And if I'm wrong, well, it would be worth a
considerable sum to me to find that out now.  But if you really want
this discussion to go away, request again and I'll disappear.