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Neil Williams wrote: > > Once a package decides on a licence and starts accepting contributions under > that licence from the community, it becomes all but impossible to change that > licence (as it should involve the consent of all). This makes it all the more > important that we all choose to use packages that are GPL-compatible NOW - no > matter how bad they might seem - so that they can be improved. Nah, that is just the "linux" approach (or how Linus runs the kernel). The FSF expect copyright assignment to them on GNU project code (presumably including GNU Cash?), so they can change the licence whenever they like. (Although of coure they could also rewrite the GPL and use the "and later" clause as well). Although the FSF would presumably have to make changes consistent with their constituition. You could ask the FSF to make a particular piece of their software available under a different licence, but you'd need a damn good reason, since it might affect peoples willingness to assign copyright to them. In practise I would recommend no one ever start a "BIG" free software project without expecting copyright assignments from contributors, precisely because it would allow them to issue the code under different licences in future. The GPL v2 (and later) may be fine currently, but the appearance of GPL v3 (draft expected mid January) could create circumstance where people wish they had been more careful with copyright assignment. Of course the killer, is that any GPLed project could in principal use any GPL'ed code (or compatible), which creates the possibility to "borrow" other GPLed code without asking for assignment. But that is a one way street in terms of licencing. Uniformity of copyright is thus something that can start pure, and become more complex with time, but it is worth trying to maintain purity to avoid the GPL deadend street. Remember the GPL isn't that old in copyright terms, and may not be the "best of all possible licences", where all include all time. Some projects have also used GPLed code to implement features, but maintained a clear API, and later reimplemented the code providing that functionality to avoid being tied to the "licence"/"copyright assignment" in future. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html