The third discussion draft of GPL version 3 is scheduled for release at 7 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, Brett Smith, a licensing compliance engineer for the Free Software Foundation said in a mailing list posting Monday. The current GPL 2 governs the rights and restrictions of many open-source and free-software projects, including high-profile ones such as the Linux kernel, Java and MySQL database.
A "last-call" draft is due 60 days after the third discussion draft, and the final GPL 3 will arrive 30 days after that, Smith said.
"We remain absolutely committed to hearing input from as much of the free-software community as possible before publishing a final version of the license," Smith said on the mailing list. "We are adjusting the drafting process to make sure that everyone interested has an opportunity to make their voice heard."