Phoronix Test Suite Exploring GPLv2 License
At present the GPLv3+ license is used by the Phoronix Test Suite for our open-source, industry-standard benchmarking software. The GPLv3+ has been happily used since its inception, but we're now exploring re-licensing it to GPLv2.
There's no immediate reason besides some hardware/software vendors and other organizations being apprehensive about using -- or committing code to -- GPLv3 software. The GPLv3 hasn't been providing us with any real advantages over GPLv2 so we're currently evaluating the license change ahead of the large Phoronix Test Suite 5.0 "Plavsk" release due out in late Q1 or early Q2. The Phoronix Test Suite 5.0 release brings a new UI, a WebSocket interface, and many other changes and new features.
This proposed change has nothing to do with the individual test profiles/suites on OpenBenchmarking.org nor the licenses of Phoromatic or OpenBenchmarking.org that continue to be commercially available for enterprise and behind-the-firewall usage.
If you have any feedback or thoughts to share on the matter, feel free to post as a comment to this article in the forums or contact us.
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