Correct license notice

[hakre]

The copyright notice has been tainted in [13516] on 28 Feb 2010. The commit action was executed by Andrew Nacin.

The change of the copyright notice has licensing implications and should be considered as an act under the copyright law. From what I know, the copyright owners were not notified about that change nor was there a consent about making that change by the copyright holders.

I suggest that the change gets reverted immediatly (for all affected branches/packages) and it's dealt with it as if the change has never been made. To reduce the damage potential, an immediate release for all tainted packages is worth to consider in my eyes.

[hakre]

Tag: FIXIPO

[nacin]

		    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
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[hakre]

Nacin, I'm not talking about the license file that ships with wordpress but the copyright notice. I thought that was clear. Next to that as you were the comitting Developer I kindly ask you to step back a bit and handle this with a little bit more respectful.

---

Niall Kennedy has provided the ​original patch with the copyright notice change.

[jacobsantos]

Nacin is right on this. It wasn't a copyright change, it was a clarification on the license. WordPress has always been version 2 of the GPL and saying GPL might incorrectly imply v3 as well to those simply reading the license or wonder why the v3 wasn't included or applicable as well.

[hakre]

Replying to jacobsantos:

In the event that I start to repeat myself: This is not about the license file that ships with worpdress, It is about the wordpress copyright notice.

You say it yourself

it was a clarification on the license.

Which implies a change. This becomes totally clear because you name the consquences immediatly the change of the copyright notice:

... saying GPL might incorrectly [sic!] imply v3 as well.

So as it's totally visible here, this has licensing implications. It's not a minor change that has no meaning.

[westi]

Replying to hakre:

Replying to jacobsantos:

In the event that I start to repeat myself: This is not about the license file that ships with worpdress, It is about the wordpress copyright notice.

You say it yourself

it was a clarification on the license.

Which implies a change. This becomes totally clear because you name the consquences immediatly the change of the copyright notice:

... saying GPL might incorrectly [sic!] imply v3 as well.

So as it's totally visible here, this has licensing implications. It's not a minor change that has no meaning.

It has no licensing implications.

When WordPress was first forked from b2 it inherited the GPLv2 licenced.

It never had the "GPL v2 or later" style statement which would allow it to be re-licensed (sic) under a later version of the GPL e.g. GPL v3.

The changed referenced is just making the explicitly clear.

[hakre]

Replying to westi:

It has no licensing implications.

Let's skip licensing for a moment and focus on this ticket topic: The copyright notice and the unlawful changing of it.

You're refering to b2 with your answer. Wordpress has taken over the copyright notice from b2 if I remember correctly.

It never had the "GPL v2 or later" style statement

As far as I remember it even did not specifiy any specific GPL version.

which would allow it to be re-licensed (sic) under a later version of the GPL e.g. GPL v3.

Your words.

The changed referenced is just making the explicitly clear.

Oh, so? And if we leave the licsense implications (existant or inexistant) aside, you still speak about a changed copyright notice, right?

So was there a consensus of the copyright holders to change the copyright notice?

[demetris]

@hakre:

The option in the notice that the GPL authors recommend, “either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version”, is NOT implied. It must be stated explicitly.

As far as I know, and as Peter says above, that was never stated in any WP files. If that is the case, then it is not possible to apply the terms of the GPLv3, or any future version of the GPL, to WordPress without the agreement of the copyright holders. So, the change in the readme file is simply a clarification.

+1 invalid

[hakre]

Restore of original Copyright message

[hakre]

Replying to demetris:
You, together with jacobsantos and wesit all say, that this has been done to clarify the license that ships with wordpress. Clarification is a process, so you all three admit that changing the wording of the copyright notice does make something more clear. But with that you already wrote that there was space for reading the copyright notice in some other direction.

And that's exactly why it's important that before such changes are done the copyright holder must be notified. That was not done.

It was not me who was putting GPL v3 on topic here. Read my words. My report only covers the change of the copyright message. And as an author of this software I have some dedicated rights. Do you want to take those away from me?

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

Based on ​http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html it doesn't matter much:

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
specifies a version number of the license which applies to it and "any
later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions
either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
the license, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
Foundation.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

Hold, it actually does matter. Considering that v2 "any later version" wasn't specified, the last sentence applies. In other words, WP was originally released under GPL v1, and the changeset changes its licensed.

[scribu]

Replying to Denis-de-Bernardy:

Hold, it actually does matter. Considering that v2 "any later version" wasn't specified, the last sentence applies. In other words, WP was originally released under GPL v1, and the changeset changes its licensed.

Can you point to the license file in the b2 version that was used by WordPress? If it states it's GPL V1, you have a point.

[hakre]

Replying to Denis-de-Bernardy:
I really need to repeat myself: This is not about the license, it's about the copyright message. Sacre Bleu (WTF en anglais)!

---

Replying to scribu:
for you the same, the GPL version has been introduced in the copyright statement w/o consent of the copyright owners. So this should not be the thing councerned about here right now. But you all put the GPL version on topic. I really wonder why ;)

[demetris]

@hakre:

The part you are complaining about says nothing about copyright. It only says what is the licence under which the work is published.

So, if there is something that needs correction there, it is the heading. It should be “Licence”, not “Copyright”.

@scribu:

b2 0.6.1 came with the GPLv2 text. Its readme says just “GPL” and then points to the license.txt file. See end of the readme, last sentence: ​http://cafelog.com/readme.html

[hakre]

Replying to demetris:

@hakre:

The part you are complaining about says nothing about copyright. It only says what is the licence under which the work is published.

Says nothing about copyright? Well, it's just the copyright statemnet. Maybe you can explain what exactly you want to say... .

So, if there is something that needs correction there, it is the heading. It should be “Licence”, not “Copyright”.

Sorry to attack you that much, but please do your homework in the copyright/licensing class.

@scribu:

b2 0.6.1 came with the GPLv2 [sic!] text. Its readme says just “GPL” and then points to the license.txt file [which is GPL license in version two]. See end of the readme, last sentence: ​http://cafelog.com/readme.html

Thanks for documenting it here. You could just have quoted the last sentence in full as well (it does not even contain a link to the file). You didn't, so I do it for the intent reader:

b2 is released under the GPL (see license.txt).

Enjoy the raw words. Can you tell me of what Wordpress forked from? Westi or so named that word by word ... .

[scribu]

Thanks demetris.

If it says "b2 is released under the GPL (see license.txt)" and that license.txt contained the GPL v2, it means that WP was also licensed under GPL v2.

Since it didn't say "b2 is released under the GPL v2 or any later version (see license.txt)", it follows that the "copyright message" is exactly as before, only more explicit.

If the change would have affected the licensing terms, I would be concerned too.

[hakre]

Replying to scribu:

If it says "b2 is released under the GPL (see license.txt)" and that license.txt contained the GPL v2, it means that WP was also licensed under GPL v2.

Please read the GPL (v2) in full first, before you jump to conclusions.

[markjaquith]

That sentence was not and is not a copyright notice. It was an abbreviated licensing notice. Nacin merely updated that licensing notice to correctly indicate the precise license used (GPL version 2). That is not a licensing change, because the license has always specified GPL version 2, and it is not a copyright change, since that sentence was not a copyright notice, but a licensing notice.

I updated the header to read "License" instead of "Copyright," to clarify this point. [15529]

This ticket is invalid. Nothing has changed or been tainted about WordPress' copyright or its license.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

Replying to markjaquith:

That sentence was not and is not a copyright notice. It was an abbreviated licensing notice. Nacin merely updated that licensing notice to correctly indicate the precise license used (GPL version 2). That is not a licensing change, because the license has always specified GPL version 2, and it is not a copyright change, since that sentence was not a copyright notice, but a licensing notice.

I beg to differ. If you take it in court, I would take the bet that whichever lawyer takes care of it in front of you will look into the WP license, and ask which it is using. This ticket will only serve his purpose, in that the copyright was changed outright without explicit consent, to v.2.

The fact of the matter is, the copyright notice says GPL without any version. Without any version, regardless of hyperlinks, means v1, v2, v3, etc. Anything one choses, basically.

In changing it to v2. you need explicit consent from every single patch contributor, regardless how minor. Regardless how you thing of this garbage. Hakre is totally right here.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

I would add that this is an insult to WP contributors if this gets changed without they getting consulted. They've contributed patches, they've contributed to WP, the license then was clear, it suddenly gets changed without consent. They've the right to know, and they've a right to object to it. And the committed patch should only have been committed with their content. (And I, FYI, sure as hell will deny mine, for the sake of making this point.)

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

And if you don't agree, please be so kind to revert patches proped to me, in the past 5 years.

[scribu]

The fact of the matter is, the copyright notice says GPL without any version. Without any version, regardless of hyperlinks, means v1, v2, v3, etc. Anything one choses, basically.

Another fact is that that same notice points to a license file, which does specify a version.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

It does indeed, but it's not worth much in a european court, where copyright trumps very much everything else.

As an aside, this changeset is a huge precedent -- wp changing the license without explicit consent of contributors. And not the best of them either...

[scribu]

Which part of the license.txt file included in WordPress states that you can choose whichever version you want?

[scribu]

(version of the GPL that is)

[jacobsantos]

The problem I have is that it doesn't appear to be a copyright notice [1]. It is specifying the license and the version, which has always been GPLv2 and the license has always been part of WordPress. Saying something is GPL is to say that is the license. It is not to say that it can be any version.

As an aside, there isn't any copyright notice in the WordPress source that is itself core of WordPress (not a third-party library).

I think that is where my confusion lies. I do not see a copyright notice. The change appeared to be a clarification of the license as it has always been. The readme.html matters little, I would believe in the terms of specifying copyright of WordPress.

[1] ​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_notice

[markjaquith]

Self-replying:

That is not a licensing change, because the license has always specified GPL version 2

I'm going to back off this statement for now. Let me explain:

It has been our stance that we cannot guarantee "or any later version" GPL licensing for WordPress as a whole, and that in order to license WordPress completely under the GPL version 3, it would require the consent of all copyright holders. It's a bit historically murky, as there are b2 and early-WP references to GPL v2 as well as just GPL and GPL v2 or any later version. GPL v2 seemed like the one we could absolutely guarantee was valid to use, as it was specifically mentioned, and that was the license that has always been included in both b2 and WordPress.

But Denis has a point: just because it's valid to use doesn't necessarily mean that it's the only version of the license that is valid to use. It's just the one we know you can use. The reality is that there are conflicting statements about the version of the GPL that b2/WordPress were intended to use. It's safe to use WordPress under the terms of the GPL version 2, but other versions are an open question.

I'll chat with some of the other leads and core contributors about this. Trust me when I say that I care deeply about finding the right answer — one which respects the contributions of the WordPress copyright holders.

But Trac isn't the right place for that conversation — this is for fixing and developing WordPress, not licensing discussions.

[demetris]

Replying to hakre:

Replying to scribu:

If it says "b2 is released under the GPL (see license.txt)" and that license.txt contained the GPL v2, it means that WP was also licensed under GPL v2.

Please read the GPL (v2) in full first, before you jump to conclusions.

hakre, I suppose you refer to this paragraph:

This program 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 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version

This paragraph is indeed part of the full text of the GPLv2, but it is not a part of the licence itself. It is part of “Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs”. So it has no effect unless it is somehow included in the files of your program.

[hakre]

Until this has been properly sorted out - which should have been done in the first place - I'm still willing to revert the noted changes and don't see my issue in this ticket fixed.

It's not my fault that others start to discuss here, I always stated that this ticket is about a change that needs a revert. And it's not my fault either that the project let pass the chance to clarify such at a time it would have been possible to do so.

For me as a contributing developer and author, I have not given consent to change the context of the license file which has been introduced in [13516] by #10835. As this change can be seen as a licensing related one, the copyright owner of the work must have been given consent to such a change.

This did not happen.

To my best knowledge the add of the GPL version number has been proposed (opening a ticket and providing a patch) by Niall Kennedy (niallkennedy) in September 2009. The change got committed into the Wordpress codebase by Andrew Nacin (nacin) on 28 Feb 2010.

The license file and the reference to it has always been the location we as free software user referred to prior using the code.

The unauthorized change of the license reference that slipped in does not only violates the rights of the copyright holders, it has the potential to tinker with the users rights. This change needs to be reverted immediatly to no longer extend the ongoing violation.

Affected files on wordpress.org are:

• ​http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0.1.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0.1-IIS.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0-IIS.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-mu-3.0.tar.gz
• ​http://wordpress.org/wordpress-mu-3.0.1.tar.gz

and their zip version.

I urge the project to stop the violation now.

[hakre]

Replying to demetris:

Replying to hakre:

Please read the GPL (v2) in full first, before you jump to conclusions.

hakre, I suppose you refer to this paragraph:

No. You somehow misread me, you could/should have read the file that ships with the program. But I must kindly ask you to discuss that in some other place to prevent clutter in this ticket.

[hakre]

Restore of original Copyright message - after [15529]

[hakre]

Updated the patch against current trunk, for reference:

Replying to markjaquith:

I updated the header to read "License" instead of "Copyright," [...] [15529]

[demetris]

Replying to hakre:

Replying to demetris:

Replying to hakre:

Please read the GPL (v2) in full first, before you jump to conclusions.

hakre, I suppose you refer to this paragraph:

No. You somehow misread me, you could/should have read the file that ships with the program. But I must kindly ask you to discuss that in some other place to prevent clutter in this ticket.

I see now.

You must be referring to this section of the licence:

9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

Emphasis mine.

This seems to imply that the addition of “v2” in readme.html changes the licencing terms and, for that reason, it should require the consent of the copyright holders.

[scribu]

In that case, I agree that the change should be reverted.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

+1 to revert.

[jacobsantos]

Wow, what people don't know about the GPL! I learned something new today. I learned that yes, WordPress can be GPLv3 simply because someone didn't have the foresight or understanding to ensure that the proper version number was applied somewhere in the code.

[markjaquith]

I'm going to revert. Here's my reasoning:

b2 stated that its license was "GPL." No version specified. WordPress has always (until recently) stated that its license is "GPL." No version specified.

The fact that version 2 of the license is included does not mean that the code is only available under version 2, as the license (version 2, as well as 1 and 3) says that if no version is stated, the code is available under any published version of the GPL.

Later, some code was introduced that was licensed under the GPL version 2 (i.e. "only"). Some code was introduced that was licensed under the GPL version 2 or any later version. So while WordPress as a whole cannot currently be redistributed under the GPL versions 1 or 3, that does not change the fact that the code that does not have a version-specific GPL applied to it can be presumed to be released under the GPL, generally (any version).

As such, we can't change the license of that code. It has to be just "GPL." Whether we should say that WordPress is GPL, generally, but certain portions are GPL version 2 (only) and some portions are GPL version 2 or any later version is uncertain. Rolling back is the first step, in any case. According to the GNU FAQ, it's fine to combine the code as we have, with the caveat: "If you do this, as long as the project contains the code released under GPLv2 only, you will not be able to upgrade the project's license to GPLv3 or later."

It wouldn't take much work to contact the authors of the code that is specifically marked GPL v2 only. Doing so would give people the ability to use WordPress under the terms of the GPL version 3 (or any version 2 or higher). With a little more work, we could get the "GPL v2 or higher" code licensed as simply GPL. One could make an argument that the licensing of that code as "GPL v2" or "GPL v2 or later" was erroneous, but I'd rather contact the authors, just to be certain.

As long as we have a mix of "GPL" code and "GPL v2" code and "GPL v2 or later" code, the only license that applies to every part of WordPress is version 2, as it is the only one that fits all three of the licenses. But that doesn't change the fact that the majority of WordPress code is GPL in in general, not GPLv2, and we can't change the license on that code without permission from relevant copyright holders.

[markjaquith]

(In [15534]) We cannot say that WordPress as a whole is GPLv2 (i.e. "GPLv2 only"). Go back to saying just "GPL." Reverts [13516] for 3.0. props hakre. fixes #14685

[hakre]

Thanks for the movement. There is also [15533] for trunk.

What you write in your comment, last night ​I also had the feeling that there are some other implications around. It seems that in the past some points were missed. I hope this can be fixed now.

Any plans on the version bump and updating the package files on worpdress.org?

[hakre]

Replying to markjaquith:

As long as we have a mix of "GPL" code and "GPL v2" code and "GPL v2 or later" code, the only license that applies to every part of WordPress is version 2, as it is the only one that fits all three of the licenses. But that doesn't change the fact that the majority of WordPress code is GPL in in general, not GPLv2, and we can't change the license on that code without permission from relevant copyright holders.

So far the theory. Infact we have a mix of code with incompatbile license, e.g. the BSD. I created a new ticket regarding that show-stopper: #14703

[Mrmist]

Pushing a version bump just for this seems excessive to me. You'd be essentially imposing an upgrade on the user base for a reason that only a tiny percentage of users would even care about. By all accounts there are issues relating that have been around for a while, so waiting a while until there's progress that warrants a release wouldn't seem overly bad to me.

[markjaquith]

Any plans on the version bump and updating the package files on worpdress.org?

No. I applied it to 3.0 and trunk. It'll go out with the next release from each of those branches. The package files are historical, and I don't feel the need to whitewash them.

[hakre]

Related: [15536]

[hakre]

Related: #14727

[hakre]

Replying to markjaquith:

That sentence was not and is not a copyright notice.

I respectfully disagree. The revisions of the file are publicly visible. Maybe changes like r48 have a highly misleading potential and stand for what's missing: a better copyright statement.

Until such one I strongly suggest to not drop the term "Copyright" in the readme for the moment. Because this is the last place of which the whole wordpress codebase has a reference to any sort of copyright.

[hakre]

For reference and to make it easier to review, I now listed all changes in this history of the ​WordPress Copyright Statement.

[hakre]

Related: [17301]; ​WordPress changes GPL License Text Again (by hakre; 15 Jan 2010)