Re: GPL version 4

[Richard M Stallman <rms%gnu.org@localhost>]

Only the Free Software Foundation can release versions of the GNU
General Public License.  And the automatic relicensing provision
applies only to future versions released by the Free Software
Foundation.

The GNU GPL was not designed to be "open source".  I wrote it for the
free software movement, and its purpose is to ensure every user of
every version of the program gets the essential freedoms.  See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html for
more explanation of the difference between free software and open
source.

In private, the GNU GPL lets users link GPL-covered code with anything
whatsoever.  However, if they distribute such a combination, the whole
combination must be released as a whole under the GPL.  This makes sure
that users of the combination have freedom.

This has been true for all versions of the GNU GPL.  In version 3 we
have relaxed it slightly in some harmless but useful ways.

If you want to use a simple permissive license such as the X11 license
for your code, just go ahead.  It is a free software license (see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html), so the FSF will say
this is basically ok.