Paul Koning via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> writes: >> GCC's license is "GPL version 3 or later", so if there ever needed to be a >> GPL v4, we could move to it without needing permission from anyone. > > I don't think that is what the license says. It says: > > GCC is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify > it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by > the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) > any later version. > > To me that means the recipient of the software can relicense it under > a later license. It doesn't say to me that the original distribution > can do so.
I've never read it that way. To me it says "a recipient may redistribute it under terms of a newer license, but the license remains v3+ even if they do" - we're giving the recipient a choice of actions, but not power to relicense. I.e. a recipient is not permitted to relicense the code, ever. However, they may act as if it's licensed under a newer license. If they share the code, *that* recipient gets to make the same choice - v3 or newer. So if the original copyright holder can't change the license, nobody can.
