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

Willy Tarreau
2007-06-14T04:40:39Z

On Wed, Jun 13, 2007 at 03:06:51PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> And I actually am of the very firm opinion that a world with gray areas
> (and purple, and pink, and green) is a hell of a lot better than one where
> everything is black-and-white.

agreed, because you cannot imagine at the beginning all fair uses of your
project. It's a good thing that people can use it, thinking "hey, it's not
explicitly allowed but I think I can defend my case".

> Only lawyers want a black-and-white world.

not really. They would lose their job. They need a gray world to get
customers, but they want to decide what half is black and what half
is white in front of the judge depending on their customer's needs.

> Indeed. And it's _fine_ to even be in it "just to make a quick buck". We
> do want all kinds of input. I think the community is much healthier having
> lots of different reasons for people wanting to be involved, rather than
> concentrating on just some specific reason.
>
> For some it's the technology. For some it's the license. For some it's
> just a thing to pass boredom. Others like to learn. Whatever. It's all
> good!

And I think that for many people (including myself), it's all of these in
this order :
- something to learn (when you're at school)
- something to pass boredom (when you're at school too)
- the technology (when you're working on designing new products)
- the license (when you finally try to put your products on the market)

Regards,
Willy