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Integrate text regarding GPLv2§8 learned during GPLv3 into this section.

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I had to substantially rewrite the text pasted from the rationale document
here to fit the text into the GPLv2-specific discussion that intended for
this section of the tutorial.
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Bradley M. Kuhn 2014-03-20 08:09:29 -04:00
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@ -2097,21 +2097,19 @@ copyrighted interfaces (no country to our knowledge even permits those
yet), that the GPLv2'd software can continue in free and unabated
distribution in the countries where such controls do not exist.
As far as is currently known, GPLv2~\S8 has never been formally used by any
copyright holders. Some have used GPLv2~\S8 to explain various odd special
topics of distribution, but generally speaking, this section is not
particularly useful and was actually removed in GPLv3.
As far as is currently known, GPLv2~\S8 has very rarely been formally used by
copyright holders. Admittedly, some have used GPLv2~\S8 to explain various
odd special topics of distribution (usually related in some way to
GPLv2~\S7). However, generally speaking, this section is not proven
particularly useful in the more than two decades of GPLv2 history.
% FIXME: integrate this into this section.
To our knowledge, no one has invoked this section to add an explicit
geographical distribution limitation since GPLv2 was released in 1991. We
have concluded that this provision is not needed and is not expected to be
needed in the future, and that it therefore should be removed.
Although a principal reason for removing the provision is the fact that it
has rarely been used, we have also encountered one current example of its use
that we find troubling.
Meanwhile, despite many calls by the FSF (and others) for those licensors who
explicitly use this section to come forward and explain their reasoning, no
one ever did. Furthermore, research conducted during the GPLv3 drafting
process found exactly one licensor who had invoked this section to add an
explicit geographical distribution limitation, and the reasoning for that one
invocation was not fitting with FSF's intended spirit of GPLv2~\S8. As such,
GPLv2~\S8 was not included at all in GPLv3.
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\chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}