The time has come to stand up for the GPL

Re:The time has come to stand up for the GPL by oddevan on Friday March 06, 2015 @10:34AM (#9157484)

It doesn't, but if I GPL my own iOS code, NO ONE will want to use it in an actual shipping iOS app of any significance. The GPL requires the resulting binary to be free of DRM, and the iOS App Store automatically and uniformly applies DRM to all downloads, free or paid. Thus, no iOS developer will use GPL code in their own app since it essentially gives the original copyright holder the power to have your app taken down.

So yeah, I could have made my point a little better. Here's some elaboration:

I will personally avoid applying the GPL, either by my own decision or because of code I am using, mostly because I want the freedom, both for myself and for those who might use my code, to release on iOS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The time has come to stand up for the GPL by shiggerino on Friday March 06, 2015 @11:34AM (#9157892)

>It doesn't, but if I GPL my own iOS code, NO ONE will want to use it in an actual shipping iOS app of any significance. I don't see how the proliferation of DRM-ridden iOS apps is a laudable goal for a free software project. If you want, you can sell exceptions to let other people to use your code in their apps. I don't particularly like the practice, but the net harm is much lower than if the program was released under a permissive license.

[ Parent | on HN ]