A thought has occurred to me that bitcoins client is released under mit which allows for closed source clients that would give someone an advantage over everyone by modifying the client and not releasing the code. If we changed to GPL this would force anyone who created a modified client to release the source code under the terms of the GPL.

A few thoughts for discussion here:

Do you think switching to GPL would be a good idea?

If someone released a closed source client how could we enforce the GPL?

Would changing to a GPL stifle development in anyway?

Would this make it less likely for new clients to be developed?

If the only library is closed source, then there’s a project to make an open source one.

If the only library is GPL, then there’s a project to make a non-GPL one.

If the best library is MIT, Boost, new-BSD or public domain, then we can stop re-writing it.

I don’t question that GPL is a good license for operating systems, especially since non-GPL code is allowed to interface with the OS.  For smaller projects, I think the fear of a closed-source takeover is overdone.

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