Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] GPL defense issues

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

On Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 9:48 PM, Matthew Garrett <mjg59@coreos.com> wrote:
>
> Stop pretending that there have been no benefits from this. It's
> clearly untrue.

You have lost your ability to read.

It's the *downsides* I've been talking about. The absolutely huge
downsides of litigation (and just threats of litigation).

The ones you are dismissing despite all the evidence.

Go back and read Greg's email, maybe you can force yourself to
actually understand.

> But right now you're on the Fox News side of the truth/lies line, and it's> not a good look

Plonk. Now you're just ranting.

I don't think this is productive. And it's not like you're going to be
at the kernel summit anyway since you have publicly stated you don't
even want to be a developer, so it is pointless anyway. Go make your
own GPLv3 project, and enforce that all you want, and see how that
works out for you.

So I don't think I'll bother replying to your rants any more.

> Users benefit from code availability, even if it isn't contributed upstream.

The thing is, long term, what really matters is the eventual upstream
contribution.

The non-contributor company that isn't contributing is by definition
not spreading his DNA around. They don't matter in the long run.

What matters are the people - and companies - that actually develop
and contribute code, and make the future happen.

That's what keeps the project actually _alive_.

Are there lazy and bad companies? Yes. But they don't actually
*contribute* anything anyway, they just package stuff and move on.
Exactly like you say - their product cycles are too short to care.
They won't have added any sw value even in their own product.

But those companies don't even *MATTER* from a development standpoint.
It's not like they created anything new and wonderful anyway.

Yes, they are leeches.  So what? It's not pretty.

In the optimal situation, you can try to beguile them and lure them
out, and hope they become productive members of society.

But when you start blasting around with the legal guns, even the
*good* guys will decamp. They don't want to get anywhere _near_ the
war zone.

And what we *definitely* don't need are the lawyers that just dismiss
all the code and effort and community that actual real contributors -
individual and corporate - have done for decades.

Those lawyers should just go away. Because they are worse than the leeches.

             Linus