(Thanks to Raffaele for the link). With the development of the GPL v3 underway, an enterprising soul has launched a GPL v4 website to preempt the debate and allow Free Software enthusiasts to conduct proper flame wars on the subject of DRM and software patents. The site offers some amazing insights into the drafting process. For example, we are told that “[GPLv4] finally removes the word ‘suckers’ and is totally written in leetspeak.” N347. We are also informed that the new licence will contain the ultimate software patent retaliation clause: “If somebody sues you, you […] just hire a hit-man to whack the stupid git.” The working draft of the new licence reads:
1. Thou Shalt Smite Thy Microsoftie
2. Thou Shalt Bow To Thy Benovolent Leader RMS Thy God And Have Ye No Other God Before Him
3. That Shalt Not Take the Name of GNU/Linux In Vain
4. Thou Shalt Mod Down the unholy SlashDot Troll, For He is an Abomination unto Thee
5. Thou Shalt Not Click on false Gmail Links
6. Thou Shalt Not Fall to the Evil Seductress BSD, for She is an Unrighteous Whore Unto Thee
7. Thou Shalt Close Thine Ears Upon Hearing the False Testimony of the SCO, the Lies of TCO, and the injustices of the CMDRTCO.
8. Thou Shalt Moderate this Post to the Heavens, That All The Earth May Know of the Great And Fearful GPL.
I’m not entirely sure about clause six, it’s a bit harsh on BSD developers, and it makes compatibility difficult. I also prefer to keep the word ‘Abomination’ out of licences, it makes enforcement a matter of stoning people to death, and tends to involve lakes of fire and such.
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