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www/philosophy selling-exceptions.html
From: |
Richard M. Stallman |
Subject: |
www/philosophy selling-exceptions.html |
Date: |
Wed, 8 Feb 2017 14:36:26 +0000 (UTC) |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Richard M. Stallman <rms> 17/02/08 14:36:26
Modified files:
philosophy : selling-exceptions.html
Log message:
Delete the discussion of Oracle (that is too old now).
Distinguish from dual licensing and from the section 7 exceptions
to the GPL.
Other minor changes.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.24&r2=1.25
Patches:
Index: selling-exceptions.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html,v
retrieving revision 1.24
retrieving revision 1.25
diff -u -b -r1.24 -r1.25
--- selling-exceptions.html 18 Nov 2016 06:31:39 -0000 1.24
+++ selling-exceptions.html 8 Feb 2017 14:36:25 -0000 1.25
@@ -9,15 +9,6 @@
<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></p>
-<p>When I co-signed
-the <a href="/philosophy/ec_letter_mysql_oct19.pdf">letter objecting
-to Oracle's planned purchase of
-MySQL</a><sup><a href="#footnote">1</a></sup> (along with the rest of
-Sun), some free software supporters were surprised that I approved of
-the practice of selling license exceptions which the MySQL developers
-have used. They expected me to condemn the practice outright. This
-article explains what I think of the practice, and why.</p>
-
<p>Selling exceptions means that the copyright holder of the code
releases it to the public under a free software license, then lets
customers pay for permission to use the same code under different
@@ -31,10 +22,34 @@
exceptions, the same code that the exception applies to is available
to the general public as free software. An extension or a modified
version that is only available under a proprietary license is
-proprietary software, pure and simple, and no better than any other
+proprietary software, pure and simple, and just as wrong as any other
proprietary software. This article is concerned with cases that
involve strictly and only the sale of exceptions.</p>
+<p>We must also distinguish selling exceptions from dual licensing,
+which means releasing the program under a choice of licenses. With
+dual licensing, each user can choose to use the program under either
+one of the licenses, or under both in parallel for activities that fit
+both. (Thus, redistributors normally pass along both of the
+licenses.) For instance, Perl was distributed for many years under a
+dual license whose alternatives were the GNU GPL and the Artistic
+License. That is not necessary any more because version 2 of the
+Artistic License is compatible with the GNU GPL.</p>
+
+<p>In selling exceptions, the exception's terms are not a second
+license that the program is released under. Rather, they are
+available only to those users that buy an exception. The only license
+that the release carries is the GNU GPL, so this is not dual
+licensing.</p>
+
+<p>We must distinguish selling of exceptions from the usual kind of
+“exception to the GPL,” which simply gives all users
+permission to go beyond the GPL's conditions in some specific way.
+These exceptions are governed by section 7 of the GNU GPL. Selling
+exceptions is legally independent of the GNU GPL. To avoid confusion
+it is best not to refer to exceptions that are sold as
+“exceptions to the GPL.”</p>
+
<p>I've considered selling exceptions acceptable since the 1990s, and on
occasion I've suggested it to companies. Sometimes this approach has
made it possible for important programs to become free software.</p>
@@ -74,13 +89,14 @@
that the developer that sold the exception is doing something wrong
too?</p>
-<p>If that implication is valid, it would also apply to releasing the
+<p>If that implication were valid, it would also apply to releasing the
same program under a noncopyleft free software license, such as the
X11 license. That also permits such embedding. So either we have to
conclude that it's wrong to release anything under the X11
license—a conclusion I find unacceptably extreme—or reject
-this implication. Using a noncopyleft license is weak, and usually an
-inferior choice, but it's not wrong.</p>
+the implication. Using a noncopyleft license is weak,
+and <a href="/licenses/license-recommendations.html">usually an
+inferior choice</a>, but it's not wrong.</p>
<p>In other words, selling exceptions permits limited embedding of the
code in proprietary software, but the X11 license goes even further,
@@ -95,7 +111,7 @@
under GPL version 3-or-later and not allow embedding in proprietary
software. Selling exceptions wouldn't achieve this, just as release
under the X11 license wouldn't. So normally we don't do either of
-those things. We release under the GPL only.</p>
+those things: we release under the GPL only.</p>
<p>Another reason we release only under the GPL is so as not to permit
proprietary extensions that would present practical advantages over
@@ -103,7 +119,7 @@
those non-free versions rather than the free programs they are based
on—and lose their freedom. We don't want to encourage that.</p>
-<p>But there are occasional cases where, for specific reasons of
+<p>There are occasional cases where, for specific reasons of
strategy, we decide that using a more permissive license on a certain
program is better for the cause of freedom. In those cases, we
release the program to everyone under that permissive license.</p>
@@ -120,11 +136,6 @@
and I will suggest it where appropriate as a way to get programs
freed.</p>
-<h4>Footnotes</h4>
-
-<p id="footnote">This is a local copy of the document
-from <a
href="http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/ec_letter_mysql_oct19.pdf">its
-original location</a>.</p>
</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
<div id="footer">
@@ -164,7 +175,7 @@
<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2016/11/18 06:31:39 $
+$Date: 2017/02/08 14:36:25 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
- www/philosophy selling-exceptions.html,
Richard M. Stallman <=