GNU GPL "any later version" question

[Ben Tilly]

On 8/15/05, James Bennett <james at shtuff.us> wrote:
> I've lately been following a discussion in a web forum which engaged in
> wild speculation about things which might or might not be in version 3
> of the GNU GPL, and out of that came a hypothetical situation I'm
> curious about. Here's a rough summary:

I'm the person that he was discussing this with, and I
should note that while it is hypothetical as regards to
the GPL v3, it is *not* hypothetical when it comes to
companies like MySQL which offer dual licensing under
free/proprietary terms.

> 1. I receive a program licensed GPLv2 "or any later version", as
> recommended by the FSF, and exercise my right to obtain a copy of the
> source.
> 2. I then decide to distribute the program, or derivative work(s)
> created from it, which means I have to accept the terms of one of the
> offered versions of the GPL. At the moment that's just v2, because there
> aren't any later versions available, so I go with v2.
> 3. When I distribute the program or derivative work(s), I also follow
> the FSF recommendation by offering GPLv2 "or any later version".
> 4. Assume that at some point GPLv3 is made available, and further assume
> that it imposes one or more restrictions on use, modification or
> distribution which are not present in v2.
> 5. Someone obtains a copy of the program or derivative work(s) from me
> and, noting the "any later version" offer, chooses to accept the terms
> of GPLv3 when using, modifying or distributing it.
> 
> Now, I may be completely wrong, and indeed would love to be completely
> wrong and to know why I'm completely wrong, but the impression I get is
> that in item 5 above I have violated the terms of GPLv2 (Section 6), by
> distributing the program or a derivative work with restrictions which
> aren't present in GPLv2. The GPL FAQ isn't particularly helpful here;
> its most relevant point is this:
[...]

My response, which James has not accepted, is that what
matters is the offer.  You have offered GPL v2 with no
restrictions.  That satisfies the requirements of the GPL
since the existence of other choices does not impose
them or their terms on the recipient.  Therefore you're
fine regardless of what that recipient may later choose to
do with the options that were offered.  (Assuming, of
course, that copyright law allows you to offer all of the
options that you're offering.)

Cheers,
Ben