GPLv3

[Ethan Blanton]

H. Bons spake unto us the following wisdom:
> Just curious, are there plans to release Pidgin under 
> GPLv3?

Well, that's something that will have to be discussed in more detail,
and of course will have to wait for there to *be* a GPLv3, but my own
personal feeling (and, I think, a consensus of the developers) is that
we, in general, either don't think much of the changes from GPLv2 to
GPLv3 or are simply ambivalent to them, and are not in a hurry to
relicense.  I will personally push for continuing with "GPLv2 or
later, at your option".

There is some question in my mind whether we even *can* relicense
existing code to GPLv3, realistically.  We could of course choose to
use it under the terms of the GPLv3, but all of the existing code was
written and donated (in cases, from people we do not know and cannot
identify) under the "GPLv2 or later" clause.

This has been discussed a couple of times lately in both #pidgin and
devel at conference.pidgin.im.  Until we have a GPLv3 to *talk* about,
I don't think widespread speculation is even useful.

Ethan

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
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