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Comment by oddevan | Hacker News Reader

For the record, I agree with you. I will personally avoid applying the GPL to my code, either by my own decision or because of code I am using, mostly because I want the freedom, both for myself and for those who might use my code, to release on iOS.

That being said, this doesn't seem to be about a company looking at the GPL and avoiding it. This looks like a company looking at the GPL, not complying with its restrictions, but using the code anyway.

I may not like the GPL, but if a fellow developer decides to use it, I will defend that right.

[edited to elaborate on my reasons for not using the GPL. See comments below]

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>I will personally avoid applying the GPL to my own code, mostly because I want the freedom to release on iOS. How does putting your code under the GPL prevent you, the copyright holder, from doing anything like releasing on the Apple App Store? The notion of infringing on your own copyright is just absurd.

There was a dustup a while back between the developers of VLC and Apple. It's since been resolved, but the state of GPL code on the app store (knowing what we know about Apple's arbitrariness) is still murky.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/no-gpl-apps-for-apples-app-stor...

It doesn't, but if I GPL my own iOS code, NO ONE will want to use it in an actual shipping iOS app of any significance. The GPL requires the resulting binary to be free of DRM, and the iOS App Store automatically and uniformly applies DRM to all downloads, free or paid. Thus, no iOS developer will use GPL code in their own app since it essentially gives the original copyright holder the power to have your app taken down.

So yeah, I could have made my point a little better. Here's some elaboration:

I will personally avoid applying the GPL, either by my own decision or because of code I am using, mostly because I want the freedom, both for myself and for those who might use my code, to release on iOS.

>It doesn't, but if I GPL my own iOS code, NO ONE will want to use it in an actual shipping iOS app of any significance. I don't see how the proliferation of DRM-ridden iOS apps is a laudable goal for a free software project. If you want, you can sell exceptions to let other people to use your code in their apps. I don't particularly like the practice, but the net harm is much lower than if the program was released under a permissive license.

If you take substantial contributions from other developers (which is presumably the reason you open sourced it), you won't be the sole copyright holder any more.

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