The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has launched a project to rewrite the GNU General Public License (GPL), a license used by a third of open source software projects. The “GPL Version 3 Development and Publicity Project” will release a draft version in early 2006, followed by a final version in early 2007, according to eWEEK.com.

The new GPL version will be authored by “RMS” (Richard M. Stallman, the original GPL author) and Eban Moglen, who serves as General Counselor of the FSF while managing the Software Freedom Law Center. It will address software patent issues, simplify and dis-ambiguate some of the language, and make the license easier to translate, Moglen has previously suggested.

In the true spirit of open source, more than 150,000 individuals — as well as hundreds of companies and organizations — are expected to comment on the revisions. Many already have — witness this revision proposed by Embedix (Lineo) CEO Matt Harris in 2002.

The GPL was last revised in 1991, when version 2.2 appeared. Many open source projects, including Linux, continue to use the even-older 2.0 version, however.

The FSF's new GPL Development and Publicity Project was funded by a 150,000 Euro donation (about $186,000) from NL Net, a non-profit organization seeking to advance network technology. The FSF says it hopes to raise half a million dollars to fund the entire project.

More details can be found in an eWEEK.com story, here.

 
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