His FSF holds copyright, but he licensed it under GPLv2.
Once he, or anyone, does that, they no longer control the use of software, so long as GPLv2 license terms are followed.
That "army of coders" bloody well doesn't code for Stallman. We code for various reasons, and get paid various ways. A well known computer company pays my salary, for instance. I'm sure as h**l not coding for Stallman's vision of the world. Most likely some small bit of my code is in that pile of GNU software, under FSF copyright, but Stallman has no power over our continued use of it. It is published under GPLv2, and you, me or anyone else can use, modify and distribute it, under the terms of that license.
I'm not currently actively involved in any GPL project other than the Linux kernel, so I can't tell you what will happen. But I'd expect work to continue on the GPLv2 available code, for all projects of interest.
There is way too much money, from too many big players, involved in this by now, and FSF has no choke hold, nor any significant resources, with which to change that now.
All it will take is for one of the major players to determine that they cannot accept GPLv3 code, and the die will be cast. Continue to code for GPLv2 distribution, and your code will be available to all. Let FSF take that copyright for any new code, and your code is on a dead end to nowhere.
It's not a fork if everyone goes one way.
"It's not a fork if everyone goes one way."
quote of the thread...
Well right now it looks like out of the 5,000 packages you linked, only 1 product, the kernel group which you would be considered a member, has said they are going to stick with GPL2. For the third time now, who else, what other major GPL product has come out against GPL3? Right now it appears to only be ~1 in 5,000, so with the continued absence of anything contrary that would indeed appear to be everyone going one way, towards GPL3. Unfortunately, of course, but as I would expect since they typically sign their copyrights over to him anyway.