> GCC was created as part of the GNU Project but has grown to operate as > an autonomous project. > > The GCC Steering Committee has decided to relax the requirement to > assign copyright for all changes to the Free Software Foundation. GCC > will continue to be developed, distributed, and licensed under the GNU > General Public License v3.0. GCC will now accept contributions with or > without an FSF copyright assignment. This change is consistent with > the practices of many other major Free Software projects, such as the > Linux kernel. > > Contributors who have an FSF Copyright Assignment don't need to > change anything. Contributors who wish to utilize the Developer Certificate > of Origin[1] should add a Signed-off-by message to their commit messages. > Developers with commit access may add their name to the DCO list in the > MAINTAINERS file to certify the DCO for all future commits in lieu of > individual > Signed-off-by messages for each commit. > > The GCC Steering Committee continues to affirm the principles of Free > Software, and that will never change. > > - The GCC Steering Committee > > [1] https://developercertificate.org/
Eer, so you are changing the license of GCC from GPLv3+ to GPLv3 only?? Why current contributors (individuals and corporations) have not been consulted before making and implementing such important decisions? Corporations like my employer contribute to GCC under a certain legal setup. Changing the conditions under which the contributions happen is not something to be done unilaterally without a very good reason. The mere fact you have sent this email to a public mailing list means I have to get my management involved, and most probably lawyers too. What is the rationale after these changes anyway? I respectfully ask the GCC Steering Committee to suspend the implementation of these changes until the rationale and the practical consequences of changing the GCC contribution model and its license have been carefully thought, discussed and preferably consensuated among the GCC contributors and maintainers.
