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Allison Randal: In the early days of the GPLv3 revision process, compatibility with the Apache License 2.0 was given as one of many motivations for the update. At the 5th GPLv3 conference, Richard Stallman was recorded saying:

GPL version 3 is designed to be compatible with two important licenses: the Apache license and the Eclipse license. It will be possible to merge code under those licenses into GPL3 covered software once the GPL version 3 is really out.

I was suprised and disappointed to find that goal abandoned in the rationale document for the third draft (page 33):

We regret that we will not achieve compatibility of the Apache License, Version 2.0, with GPLv3, despite what we had previously promised.

I've watched many failed attempts at merging GPL and Apache licensed code. They all ended up giving up their negotiations, giving rise to the phrase "clean room reimplementation of GPL-ed code."

With GPLv3 still incompatible with Apache License 2.0, I guess we'll see more of these kinds of debates in the next few years.