[Tux4kids-tuxtype-dev] [Tuxmath-devel] Response from school staff regarding progress tracking

[David Bruce]

Hi,

> So, can we supose that the code written by Michal is GPL?

Well, I'm pretty sure he knew he was contributing to a GPL project,
but of course we should let him tell us.

>Or we need a
> spesific autorization to that? And what version of GPL? As far as I
> know, in TuxMath 95% is GPL 2, but my code is actualy under GPL 3.
> Should I use also 2?

IMHO, any new code written for tux4kids ought to be GPL-licensed (even
a new program like tux4kids-admin that isn't linked to the existing
GPL code).  Whoever writes it could release it elsewhere under a
different license if desired.

As for GPL 2 vs 3, the less-than-perfectly documented policy has been
that tuxmath and tuxtype are licensed under "GPL 2 or later".  The
COPYING file in both programs is the verbatim text of GPL version 2.
Each source file ought to have a statement about licensing, e.g. "GPL
version 2", "GPL version 2 or later", "GPL version 3", etc.  Looking
at a bunch of files just now, they are not consistent.  Most say "GPL
2 or later", many just say "see COPYING", some make no mention of
licenses, and at least a couple say "GPL 3 or later".  I think some of
the latter are just boilerplate introduced by IDE tools.  If I said
"GPLv3+" in any of my files, I'm fine with changing them to "GPLv2+"
if that's what we all decide on.

So, this all ought to be cleaned up.  I personally don't feel very
strongly about staying with GPLv2+ (assuming that's the consensus of
what we believe has been the actual policy) vs. moving to GPLv3+.

I would slightly favor going to GPLv3+ as a show of support for the
FSF and GNU projects, but I don't think it matters much because the
differences between the licenses (DRM, patents) don't seem to have
much to do with our programs.

In any event, I would not want tuxmath or tuxtype to be "GPLv2-only",
like the kernel, just because it would make it hard to update the
license in the future if some pressing need arose.

Cheers,

David