Re: License of Hurd's common lisp bindings

[Maxime Devos]

On Thu, 2021-02-25 at 22:22 -0800, Flávio Cruz wrote:
> [...]
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 11:42 AM Maxime Devos <maximedevos@telenet.be> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I was wondering if the Common Lisp bindings by "Flavio Cruz" would
> > make a nice start for GNU Guile bindings.  I have questions on the
> > license: according to
> > 
> > https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hurd/incubator.git/tree/hurd.asd?h=clisp
> > 
> > the bindings are "GPL v3.0".  Does this mean "GPL v3.0", and only that
> > version, or is this "GPL v3.0"-or any later version (at your choice etc.)?
> > Personally, I would prefer "GPL v3.0"-or-later.
> 
> To be frank, I'm not well versed on the consequences of making it GPL
> v3.0-or-later.
> Can you elaborate why you prefer that? I don't have a strong preference and 
> can
> make it "-or-later".

Some pro's and con's of making it "-or-later" as I understand them, and
some links to explanations of other people ...

First, there is the explanation on
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#VersionThreeOrLater>,
with this pro as I understand it:

* Pro: if for some reason the FSF decides to publish a GPL v4.0
  (after the GPLv2.0 came the GPLv3.0, so it's quite possible
  there will be a GPLv4.0 at some point in the future),
  then the GPLv4.0 will be compatible with "cl-hurd" if "cl-hurd"
  is released as GPLv3.0-or-later.

  Note that the different versions of the GPL are incompatible with
  each other, unless GPL-v$X-or-later is used instead of GPL-v$X-only.

* Con: If the Free Software Foundation becomes evil, then they could
  release a GPLv4.0 that ???.

  I'm a bit at a loss what the ??? would be.  Perhaps a MIT-style
  license?  I would put a link with an explanation on why this
  situation isn't realistic and why (due to legal reasons) the FSF
  cannot stop being the *Free Software* Foundation, but I cannot find
  the link anymore ...

  Also, I believe contributing to the Hurd involves some kind of
  copyright assignment (or something similar) to the FSF,
  so the FSF could decide by itself to release "cl-hurd" as GPLv4.0
  I think.

* Perhaps some other pro's and con's I forgot?

I think I'll use the yet-to-be-written port of "cl-hurd" to Guile Scheme
in some personal projects (https://notabug.org/mdevos/scheme-gnunet)
and use ‘notify ports’
(https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/gnumach-doc/Message-Send.html#Message-Send)
to reduce blocking in <https://github.com/wingo/fibers> without
requiring threads.  Maybe I'll also use it in GNU Guix for creating
containers.  GNU Guix is GPLv3.0-or-later, so a GPLv3.0-only dependency
may be problematic ...

Thanks,
Maxime.

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