Revised License Committee Report for March 2009

[wtfpl user]

2009/3/16 Carlo <carlo at piana.eu>:
> wtfpl user ha scritto:
>> 2009/3/16 Martin Michlmayr <tbm at cyrius.com>:
>>
>>> * Russ Nelson <nelson at crynwr.com> [2009-03-15 01:41]:
>>>
>>>> The only (ONLY) reason to write a license rather than putting your
>>>> software into the public domain is because you plan to sue at least
>>>> one of your users eventually.
>>>>
>>> That's not true.  As I said during the OSI call, the WTFPL was written
>>> in Europe where you don't seem to be able to put something into the
>>> public domain.  So you need a license that effectively does the same.
>>>
>>
>> A work effectively put into the public domain can not be copyright
>> licensed at all. This is clearly not the case with WTFPL licensed
>> works.
>>
>> I just note that WTFPL is on the list of
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses
>>
>> "The following licenses qualify as free software licenses"
>>
>> "WTFPL, Version 2
>> This is a free software license, very permissive..."
>>
>> OSI, please follow the GNU and approve the WTFPL as a license
>> obviously compliant with the OSD in addition to the GNU "four
>> freedoms".
>>
> Dear all,
>
> For the sake of clarity, AFAIK FSF does not approve licenses other than
> those officially maintained by it. FSF only advises if it believes that
> the license is compatible with the GNU GPL.

No.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html

Clearly states that compatibility with GNU is only one aspect of classification.

"We classify a license according to certain key criteria:

Whether it qualifies as a free software license.

Whether it is a copyleft license.

Whether it is compatible with the GNU GPL. Unless otherwise specified,
compatible licenses are compatible with both GPLv2 and GPLv3.

Whether it causes any particular practical problems. "

See also

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLIncompatibleLicenses

"The following licenses are free software licenses, but are not
compatible with the GNU GPL."