Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

Carlo Wood
2007-06-15T13:38:28Z

On Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 10:14:44AM +0200, Bernd Paysan wrote:
> Linus isn't in the positition to
> change that unless he does a substantial change to the file, and also adds
> a comment that this file is now GPLv2 only.

Which would only have effect on future additions, not the current
content of the file - of course.

Now - what if someone would write a patch for such a file (that was
'any version' before and then had a header added saying 'just version 2')
under the license 'version 2 or later'? This patch could be transformed
to 'just 2', and then applied to said source file - but, it could also
be added to the previous version of that file (without the new header)
as 'version 2 or later'. Hence, the file can still be constructed at
any moment (provided the header is removed) as license 'version 2 or
later', UNLESS someone adds a *crucial* patch (that cannot be removed
as well, along with the header) that is explicitely made version 2
ONLY by its author.

Bottom line - adding a header to those files with "version 2 only"
by Linus is pointless.

--
Carlo Wood <carlo@alinoe.com>