A lengthy debate that began with a suggestion to dual license the Linux kernel under the GPLv2 and the GPLv3 [story] continues on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. Throughout the ongoing thread Linux creator Linus Torvalds has spoken out on the GPLv2, the upcoming GPLv3, the BSD license, Tivo, the Free Software Foundation, and much more.

An eagle-eyed user of the Linux Kernel Mailing List archive, going by the name of Jo Shields (who many of you may know), has accused Compro Technology of violating the General Public License (GPL).

Making separate but critical points about the path of the Linux kernel, the maintainer of the kernel on Monday stressed there is no need to worry about forking and not to expect a move to the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3

If anyone out there still thinks that the main Linux kernel might change to the GNU GPLv3 (GNU General Public License Version 3) anytime soon, you can forget about it. At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the Googleplex, five of the leading Linux kernel developers said that they couldn't see anything like a good enough reason to switch to the forthcoming free software license.

"The new GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 is not a fit for Linux because switching would require permission from the kernel's thousands of de facto owners, a maintainer of the SCSI portion of the kernel said on Thursday."

Linux kernel at centre of battle for control of embedded devices

It all started with a request for help from Jesper Krogh in one of the first responses to Torvalds's announcement March 24 of Kernel 2.6.29 on the gmane.linux.kernel mailing list.

Linux creator Linux Torvalds says that the GPL2 (GNU General Public License) is still the best licensing option for the Linux Kernel. Torvalds has consistently rejected the GPL version 3 licensing scheme, released last year by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), for the Linux Kernel.

"The Free Software Foundation has published the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (GNU AGPLv3). This is a new license; it is based on version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPLv3), but has an additional term to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program. By publishing this license, the FSF aims to foster user and development communities around network-oriented free software..."