Torvalds Calls GPLv3 Authors 'Hypocrites'
Linux creator Linus Torvalds said the authors of a new software license expected to be used by thousands of open source programmers are a bunch of hypocrites and likened them to religious fanatics -- the latest sign of a growing schism in the open source community between business-minded developers like Torvalds and free software purists.
In an online post, Torvalds slammed executives at the Free Software Foundation, likening their mind-set to that of "religious fanatics and totalitarian states."
The Free Software Foundation last month published a revised version of the General Public License, which governs the use of many open source programs.
Among several provisions viewed by many as anti-business is a GPLv3 rule forbidding commercial users of open source software from prohibiting customer modifications.
