No, this doesn't quite scan, because there's no reason they couldn't ship a current of `bash` or any number of other GPL3 things. Aurornis is probably closest to the mark: it is legally ambiguous, and Apple probably does not want to be a test case for GPL3 compliance.
If they shipped a gpl3 version of bash on iOS, they would be in violation. This isn’t really a question: gpl3 requires you to not only provide the source if you use it in a product, but the ability to modify it and run your modified version. Which iOS doesn’t let you do.
Now, macOS would be fine in shipping a gpl3 bash. But not iOS. (Yes, iOS has bash. Or ar least they used to, they may be all on zsh now, I’m not sure.)
So, the question becomes to Apple, do we ship different bash versions for different devices, and treat macOS as being different, and have to worry about only using newer bash features on macOS? Or do we keep the same old version on all platforms, and just eschew the new bash everywhere? It’s a pretty simple decision IMO, especially because users can just use brew on macOS and put their own bash on there if they want.
Others are pointing out that gpl3 is less tested in court and that lawyers are just more uncertain/afraid of gpl3 than gpl2, especially with respect to patents… but I don’t think these are mutually exclusive. It’s clear that they can’t ship gpl3 on 4 out of their 5 operating systems. macOS is an outlier, and from an engineering standpoint it’s a lot simpler to just keep them all the same than it is to ship different scripts/etc for different platforms. It can be both reasons.
