This might be an odd question to ask, but I want to be sure to understand it correctly. When I clone a project in Github that is licensed under GPL-3.0 license, am I allowed to delete bunch of files that I no longer need?
Someone took an old BCX-BASIC program and converted it into C with some additional work to make it compile in Linux, and a Python GUI. The original Basic program is still included in the project. I want to delete everything besides the .c program, license and an include file. I want to add my own Makefile and just create the commandline executable with gcc. And I might change the name of the application too and either create my own GUI or maybe (if its possible) to integrate the C program in Rust or Zig in example, but have to explore this more.
But the files that were included there, the legacy BASIC program and some other files, are licensed under GPL-3 too. Am I allowed to just delete those files from the project?
The standard GPL permission statement explicitly clarifies that the license is “as published by the Free Software Foundation” so any later version of the license has to come from the FSF.
The reason for the “or later” clause is to allow the FSF to update the GPL in response to flaws that are discovered. The “or later” clause is controversial because it effectively allows the FSF to change the licensing terms of any software licensed under such a clause, and so some developers who don’t trust the FSF with this authority omit this clause. Famously, Linux is licensed only under GPLv2 with no or-later option (Linus has been a vocal opponent of GPLv3)
The “or later” is optional, the FSF specifically doesn’t have the power to update the terms of every GPL-licensed software because the wrote the clause in such a way that they don’t.
If I give you software licensed under the GPL3, and a GPL3.1 comes out, it doesn’t apply to your copy of the software. Likewise the copyright holder of the work is also not forced to relicense their software under the GPL3.1. And even if they did, copies of the software distributed under the GPL3 would still be licensed under the GPL3.
The “or later” clause simply means that if I received a copy of a GPL3 software, I can redistribute it under the GPL3.1 if I so wish (where “I” in the previous sentence is everyone with a copy of the work, as the GPL gives everyone with a copy redistribution rights)
Oh that’s good to know! Yeah, I never liked the “or later” too. To be fair, the software you licensed won’t change the license if a new updated version comes out. It’s just a third party can opt-in. So this is not a situation like a software agreement where the publisher can change the agreements at any time with full effect, despite you agreed to a prior agreement. I don’t think “or later” is evil, but I personally don’t like anything that is not explicit.