[Geany] Plugin licensing

[FD Cami]

On Sat, 5 Jan 2008 15:18:02 -0600
"Jeff Pohlmeyer" <yetanothergeek at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jan 5, 2008 1:59 PM, John Gabriele <jmg3000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Regarding the "or later" clause, the GPL faq
> > has this to say about it:
> > ...
> > And regarding plug-ins:
> > ...
> 
> Thanks for the links - that is some interesting reading,
> but it seems like the more I read about the GPL, the less
> I understand it :-)

Now that you mention that, the 2-clause BSD license is a bit easier
to understand :)

> The "VersionThreeOrLater" link seems to explain why the clause
> is an advantage to end users, but I fail to see how that provides
> any protection to developers who might not agree with the terms
> in a future version of the license.

There is none. This is meant to switch GPL'd software to new versions
of the licence automatically, not to protect developers, I think.

> The "GPLAndPlugins" link says:
> 
> "This means the plug-ins must be released under the GPL
> or a GPL-compatible free software license, and that the
> terms of the GPL must be followed when those plug-ins
> are distributed."
> 
> huh????
> 
> They can be *released* under any GPL-compatible
> license, but the GPL must be followed when they
> are *distributed* ??? What the heck does that mean?

I suppose the sentence should be "the terms of the GPL must be
followed when those plug-ins are distributed with the GPL application
they are designed to plug into". That way, the plugin can be used
"elsewhere" using any licence but is licensed under the GPL whenever
distributed with the GPL-distributed application. I also think that
those plugins could be dual licensed (GPL + one incompatible license),
provided (rather obviously) the "other" license is never used with a GPL
main application. 

François