Modernisation is coming to the General Public License, a legal framework that supports a large part of the free and open source software movements and that has received sharp criticism from Bill Gates.
GPL author Richard Stallman says he's working on amendments that could deal better with software patents; clarify how GPL software may be used in some networked environments and on carefully controlled hardware; and lower some barriers that today prevent the mixing of software covered by the GPL and other licences.
In the 13 years since the current GPL version two was released, the licence has moved from the fringes to the centre of the computing industry. GPL software is now common at Fortune 500 companies and endorsed by most large computing firms. But that prominence has made some eager for an update.
"The GPL has become the pivot point of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Frankly, I don't think it was designed for that," says Mark Radcliffe, an attorney with Gray Cary who has studied the GPL and other licences extensively.
For example, some would like to see clarifications that could help reduce the threat that using GPL software could entangle users in patent litigation. And the GPL could be better adapted to recent industry initiatives such as building sophisticated Web services on the Internet and boosting security through trusted computing methods.
Ordinarily only attorneys give much thought to the legal documents that govern how software may be used. But the GPL is different.
The licence is the agreement that helped show that cooperation can work in an industry dominated by competition. And the most persuasive illustration of its power is Linux, a rising threat to computing giants such as Microsoft and Sun.
The GPL governs source code. At its heart, the GPL permits anyone to see, modify and redistribute that source code, as long as they make changes available publicly and license them under the GPL. That contrasts with some licences used in open source projects that permit source code to be made proprietary.
