Richard Stallman raised more than a few eyebrows when he signed the letter objecting to the MySQL purchase. Endorsing, or seeming to endorse, the practice of selling proprietary exceptions to GPL'ed software seemed entirely out of character with Stallman's comments on Free Software up to that point.

The practice of selling license exceptions became a hot topic when I co-signed Knowledge Ecology International's letter warning that Oracle's purchase of MySQL (plus the rest of Sun) might not be good for MySQL. As the following article explains, my feelings about selling license exceptions are mixed. Clearly it is possible to develop powerful and complex software packages under the GNU GPL without selling exceptions, and we do this. MySQL can be developed this way too. However, selling exceptions has been used by MySQL developers. Who should decide whether to continue this?

Richard Stallman has clarified his earlier letter regarding MySQL.

There are various reasons when we have to wrap java exceptions. Often those reasons are called: Checked Exceptions. According to the definition there are 2 types of exceptions:

Richard Stallman's advice against Mono (by default) has made the front page of Slashdot where it received over 700 comments, which is exceptional even for Slashdot. The updated summary also links to an overview of Gnote...

"EFF-Austin invites you to a talk by the Free Software Foundation Activist - Richard Stallman on 23rd April 2009 [...] The GNU General Public License (GPL) was the outcome of the need for a principal right to free software. What does the freedom mean, what are the foundations of the GNU GPL philosophy and how has it evolved since Richard Stallman wrote the first GNU GPL in 1989?

American software freedom activist Richard Stallman, better known as the author of GNU General Public License, joined RT to give his comments on modern software copyright laws, and the risks of cyber sneaking.

"American software freedom activist Richard Stallman, better known as the author of GNU General Public License, joined RT to give his comments on modern software copyright laws, and the risks of cyber sneaking. The interview is available in Ogg Theora format..."

"In recent weeks, a couple New World Notes posts inspired an interesting e-mail conversation with a very interesting figure: Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement, and the original author of the General Public License, which the Second Life viewer code (like much software) is licensed under..."