Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

If you buy a macOS machine today, it ships with bash3.2 by default. That's the last version that was GPLv2. It is a decade old by now. Some companies most definitely care.


As I've mentioned elsewhere, git is GPL, so Macs are screwed regardless. :P


And yet macOS ships with Git, version 2.10. GPL(v2) licensed and everything.

It's not about GPL, it's about GPLv2 vs GPLv3 and the requirements that come with it.


I had no idea that Macs shipped with git, happy to hear it. :)


git and bash3.2 are GPLv2. They didn't stop at the version of bash that was GPL; bash has always been GPL. They stopped at v3 specifically.


could you please tell me why GPLv2 allows Apple to include bash3.2 with macOS but not the newer versions with GPLv3? I always had the idea that including GPL software requires the rest to be GPL too.


The usual issue is the "anti-tivoization" language (basically: the GPLv3 requires hardware that uses GPLv3-licensed software to allow users to install modified versions of that software on the hardware in question). There's also some language around patent licenses that might be unattractive to a company that deals in a lot of software patents (like Apple).


Yes, you are right companies care, but they aren't good companies.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: