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Linus Torvalds says GPL v3 violates everything that GPLv2 stood for

TFiR · 514.7K views · 2014-09-04 · 9:33

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Overview

A short TFiR clip of Linus Torvalds explaining why he thinks GPLv3 violates what GPLv2 stood for. He describes why he chose GPLv2 for kernel development and his view of the FSF's approach.

On Hacker News

Cited again and again in GPL licensing debates as the primary source for Linus's objections to GPLv3.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2015–2025

Topics

Linux & open-source ecosystemsHacker culture & free softwareSoftware practice, open source & careers
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linus torvaldsgplv3gplv2open source licensingtivoization

What people said

jraph · 2021-09 · Recommendation

Well, I don't think I agree with him and would licence GPL code with the "or later" clause, but he has a very reasonable and convincing argument against it. See this video of him explaining his take on GPLv3 and the "or later" clause at Deb Conf if you are interested: [VIDEO]

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rkowalick · 2018-01 · Recommendation

Here is an excellent video of Linus talking about why he specifically chose the GPLv2 and how he felt betrayed when the FSF released GPLv3: [VIDEO]

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knowknow · 2025-12 · Reference

Keep in mind that Linux doesn’t use the GPL3 and stuck with the GPL2 since the maintainers and Linus Torvalds thought that it was overly restrictive [1]. So at some point the license friction becomes too large to be practical for organizations to use or contribute to. [1] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by TFiR, played through YouTube.

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