Python 2.0b1 is released!

[Tim Peters]

[posted & mailed]

[Guido, on the 2.0b1 release]
>> There's one bit of sad news: according to Richard Stallman, this
>> version is no more compatible with the GPL than version 1.6

[Bernhard Reiter]
> Please make sure that this is resolved soon and python will be GPL
> compatible. Otherwise python will loose a lot of attraction for the
> free software community.

Bernhard (and everyone else as concered about GPL compatibility as we are!):
Please understand that we've (BeOpen.com) done all that we can now -- I'm
afraid it's out of our hands.  Python 2.0b1 is a derivative work of Python
1.6, so is partly bound by the terms of CNRI's Open Source License for
Python 1.6.  We have no control over CNRI's license, and neither have we any
say in what the FSF thinks about it.

There is (just) one dispute remaining, over the CNRI 1.6 license requirement
that the license be interpreted under Virginia law.  CNRI and the FSF are
still talking about that.  CNRI's lawyers believe that this clause is
compatible with the GPL, while the FSF's lawyers say it is not.
BeOpen.com's lawyers just happen to agree with CNRI's lawyers on this point,
but, frankly, what anyone at BeOpen.com thinks is irrelevant.

There is something *you* can do, though:  tell CNRI how important Python's
GPL-compatibility is to you, and also tell the FSF!  They're the ones who
have to reach agreement here.  Given CNRI's and the FSF's positions today,
there is nothing BeOpen.com can do on its own to make Python 2.0
GPL-compatible according to the FSF's current view.  The only parties with
the power to change that are CNRI and the FSF, so the best thing you can do
to help is to tell them that you personally need to see them resolve this.
If they don't, all Python users will suffer (even the ones who don't like
the GPL -- they owe a debt to their GPL brethren whether they acknowledge it
or not).

i'd-rather-be-programming-myself-ly y'rs  - tim