[Python-Dev] Licensing

Ben Finney ben+python at benfinney.id.au
Tue Jul 6 08:44:05 CEST 2010


Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> writes:

> A secondary reasoning for some open source licenses might be to
> prevent others from running off with the good stuff and selling it for
> profit. The GPL is big on that […]

Really, it's not. Please stop spreading this canard.

The GPL explicitly and deliberately grants the freedom to sell the work
for profit. Every copyright holder who grants license under the terms of
the GPL is explicitly saying “you can seel this software for any price
you like” <URL:http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html>.

Whatever other complaints people may have against the GPL, it's simply
*false* to claim what Guido did above. Please stop it.

-- 
 \        “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used |
  `\                           when we created them.” —Albert Einstein |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney



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