On 05/04/06, Adam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, 5 Apr 2006 00:15:02 +0100 "Andrew Smith" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > - Linus faces this issue with future versions of Linux, he > > doesn't like GPL 3 and won't accept it but he can't take GPL 2 off > > Linux kernel since it is an evolving project and is derived from > > previous versions. > > No, he can't take the GPL 2 off because hundreds of different people > own the copyright to GPL code in the kernel. All of them would need to > agree to re-license it.
Relicensing, as people have mentioned, is rather difficult with big projects that have many contributors. But for the sake of the argument, it must be added that it's not something that cannot be done entirely. Mozilla.org, for instance, recently have completed the relicensing process such that now most or all mozilla.org code is now available under your choice of three licences. However, it must be added that it took mozilla a very, very long time to do this process with one very dedicated volunteer, gerv. (The process was stuck several times because it was not possible to locate some contributors etc.) http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/archives/2006/03/relicensing_complete.html
