Thread: GPL version 2 to 3

What led to the move from GPL version 2 to 3?

That is hard to say, because there were different reasons for every change. If you look at GPLv3fsforg, you can find the rationale document that states the purpose of every change that we made. However, in general, the overall purpose of version 3 of the GPL is the same as version 2-to defend the freedom of every user.

We made some changes for convenience. We made some changes in order to permit things that ought to be permitted. And we made some changes to defend users' freedom against new methods of taking it away. For instance, there are some changes we made to better defend freedom against software patents; we made some changes to block tivoization.

We also made some changes so that you can lawfully redistribute the software using BitTorrent. Because it turns out that BitTorrent violates GPL v2. But, obviously, it is a good thing for people to use BitTorrent as long as they use it for the right purpose. So, in GPLv3 we added a clause to make it legal.