[Tux4kids-tuxtype-dev] Wrapping up GSoC 2010

[David Bruce]

Hi,

This Monday was the suggested "pencils down" date for GSoC, so we are
supposed to be spending the remaining time getting the documentation
in order.  We definitely got some important code written for Tux
Math/Tux Typing, and reportedly have a preliminary playable version of
Tux History (haven't tried it yet myself).  There still is a lot to do
before the new work is releasable, though.  As we all discussed, it
was a pretty strong goal to get to a releasable state by the end of
the summer.  Since we seem to be a little short in some areas, it is
particularly important to have clear documentation of where the
projects stand so others can carry on the work in the "off season".

This also is a good opportunity to tighten up our source code license
documentation.  We've talked a bit about  whether to move to "GPL3 or
later", and everyone I've communicated with has either been neutral or
in favor of making this transition.  No one has requested that we stay
"GPL2 or later", and most importantly, no one has suggested that any
of the code be "GPL2 only".  We already have some third-party code in
the tree that is unequivocally "GPL3 or later", so the program as a
whole is already GPL3.  No matter what, we definitely should get a
proper copyright and license notice at the head of every source file.

So, unless anyone objects, I plan to put proper notices in place to
make all of the existing code "GPL3 or later" as of the next release.
This is definitely allowed for code that was previously "GPL2 or
later".  I will include a notice telling where folks can look if they
want to get previous versions of the files that were "GPL2 or later".

I don't think there is much practical difference for use if we use
GPL2+ or GPL3+.  The one thing I have thought about and investigated
is compatibility with Apple's iPhone/iPad dev agreement, in case
someone wants to try to build for these platforms.  The GPLv3 very
explicitly prohibits the type of lockdown that Apple uses, so I don't
think there is any dispute that a move to GPL3+ would prevent a
iPhone/iPad port.  Sadly, I don't think our current licensing would
really allow it, either.  We certainly would have to get rid of any
third-party GPL3 code (liblinebreak, mainly), but I think we could
deal with that.  But even GPL2 is not quite compatible with Apple's
terms.  There are indeed a few GPL iPhone apps, but only because the
devs aren't asking Apple to comply with the source code distribution
requirement.  This really became clear recently when someone packaged
the GNU project's "GNU Go" game for the iPhone.  When the GNU/FSF
folks, as copyright holders, asked Apple to comply with the GPL, the
outcome was that GNU Go was simply removed from the App Store.  So I
don't think we could put our programs in the App Store without either
us or Apple ignoring some of the terms of the GPL.

Cheers,

David