how much right do I have on my project, if there are patches by others?

[Joseph Hick]

> > > Bad example.  If you've followed the FSF
> recommendations for how to
> > > apply the GPL (the ones that are written into
> the GPL), then no
> > > permission is needed to go from GPL v2 to v3.
> >
> > Those recommendations are not part of the GPL,
> fortunately.

I did not understand this part. How can anyone stop
Linus Torvalds or anyone from redistributing Linux
under GPL v3 even if Linus has partial copyright on
his software? the GPL clearly states that I or any
Linux owner is free to distribute it under GPL v2 or a
later version.

so, if Linus wants to distribute it under v3 but his
co-authors disagree, Linus is legally allowed to go
ahead with his own fork of Linux under v3 while his
co-authors can go ahead with another fork under v2. Am
I right?

> What do you mean by "part of the GPL"?  They are
> certainly part of the
> document, if you tried to remove them then you'd be
> violating the
> FSF's copyright on the GPL.  You are not, however,
> required to follow
> those recommendations in applying the GPL. 

but I think MySQL and some other companies have
changed the clause "version 2 or at your option any
later version to" to "version 2 only". and if GPL v2
is copyrighted, and not free, then how do we all use
it verbatim in our software. under full copyright with
no permissive clause, i think we are not even allowed
to copy and distribute the GPL verbatim.




 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need Mail bonding?
Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396546091