GPL licences will co-exist, says author

Eben Moglen has conceded that the second and third versions of the GPL will have to co-exist

The co-author of the General Public Licence has conceded that, although the majority of the software governed by the Licence will move over to version 3.0, the second and third versions will have to co-exist.

"It is likely that the movement to GPL 3 will be swift and simple, but some projects will be GPL 2 only," Eben Moglen told vnunet.com at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco. "There will be arrangements for the two licences to co-exist."

The Free Software Foundation published a second draft of the GPL 3 in July.

The Linux operating system will not switch to the new version when it comes out.

Linux founder Linux Torvards has repeatedly lashed out against the anti-patent and anti-DRM provisions in the GPL3, accusing the authors of using the popular open source licence to fight religious battles.

"At one time we thought that everything was going to move to version 3," Stuart Cohen, chief executive of the Open Source Development Labs told vnunet.com in an interview.

The OSDL is the employer of Torvalds. The organisation aims to increase the use of Linux and open source in the enterprise and is funded by IT vendors including Intel, IBM and Computer Associates.

"We are now marching towards a world where there are going to be v2 licences and v3 licences. We think that's all right," Cohen said.