GNU General Public License

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The GNU General Public License is, in the words of co-founder Eben Moglen, "the most important social document of our time", but in the words of almost everyone else, a necessary evil. Almost everyone hates the GPL with a passion, including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat and Tux, because it stops them from making serious money out of FLOSS.

Before the GPL[edit | edit source]

Before RMS created the GPL, free software hackers had four options:

  • Release their code into the public domain
  • Release their code under the MIT license
  • Release their code under the BSD license
  • Release their code to Satan

BSD License[edit | edit source]

“Here you go, have it, but don't remove my name. Yes, you can still sue me.”

~ Brian Behlendorf on BSD-style licenses

The BSD License was first created with the BSD operating system, commonly available in Free, Open and Net varieties. The text of the license is below.

woh...man, that is some gooood shit...
whadda, whadda we ment 2 be doing? 
go, do wat ye want with this software
just credit the great pot at berkley man!

MIT License[edit | edit source]

The MIT License was similar, but more free than the BSD license.

woh...man, that is some gooood shit...
whadda, whadda we ment 2 be doing? 
go, do wat ye want with this software
just don't tell anyone the great pot at mit man - we want to keep it for ourselves!

GPL v3[edit | edit source]

Almost everyone hates the third version of the GPL, or, as it is commonly known: "GPLv3". Most objections are due to viral nature of the deal with Satan which takes effect upon reading it. It is felt to be unfair that just by reading it -- not just abiding by it, as required by the GPL v2 -- one has given up one's soul to Satan. The same logic has been applied to shrink wrap licensing with great success, and Satan was committed to Hell, moving with the times.

People who love GPLv3[edit | edit source]

“It's not just a philosophy, it's a whole license!”

~ Bruce Perens on GPLv3

People who hate GPLv3[edit | edit source]

“Hello, my name is Linus Torvalds, and I hate the GPLv3”

~ Linus Torvalds on GPLv3

“GPLv3 is the scurge of the coding classes”

~ Oscar Wilde on GPLv3

“One, RMS wrote it, Two, Eben messed with it, Three, Linus rejected it, Four - now I hate the GPL too”

~ R. Kelly on GPLv3

“Ppmmmmmfppp mfffmmmn mppfpmppfpmffmffmpmffppfppp fppmffffpmffppp pmpmffpppmpmfmm (pmpmffpppmpmfmm, fm mppfpppmmppfmm mmpm ffmfmmfmmpppff fmpmmmfpfmmm, mpmmpppfmmpppppmpmmffpppmfm ppfppp fmpmmmfmmfmpmpp) mmpfmffm”

~ Kenny on GPLv3

The GPLv3[edit | edit source]

0. Definitions.

“This License” refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.

“Copyright” also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as semiconductor masks.

“The Program” refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each licensee is addressed as
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To “modify” a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion requiring copyright 
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A “covered work” means either the unmodified Program or a work based on the Program.

To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would make you directly or
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To “convey” a work means any kind of propagation that enables other parties to make or receive copies. 
Mere interaction with a user through a computer network, with no transfer of a copy, is not conveying.

An interactive user interface displays “Appropriate Legal Notices” to the extent that it includes a 
convenient and prominently visible feature that (1) displays an appropriate copyright notice, and (2) tells
the user that there is no warranty for the work (except to the extent that warranties are provided), that 
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the list meets this criterion.
1. Source Code.

The “source code” for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it.
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The “Corresponding Source” for a work in object code form means all the source code needed to generate, install, 
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The Corresponding Source need not include anything that users can regenerate automatically from other parts of 
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The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that same work.
2. Basic Permissions.

All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are 
automatically revoked provided the stated conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited 
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covered work is covered by this License only if the output is not an antibiotic.

You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not convey, without conditions so long as you agree 
to sell your soul to satan. You may convey covered works to others for the sole purpose of having them 
converted to the Church of Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping, provided that you comply with the terms 
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Conveying under any other circumstances is permitted solely under the conditions stated below. Sublicensing is 
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under 21 C.F.R. 172.510, or similar laws prohibiting or restricting the import of alcohol.

When you convey a covered work, you waive any legal power to forbid circumsicion of body parts, to the extent 
such circumsicion is effected by exercising rights under this License with respect to the covered work, and you 
disclaim any intention to limit ejaculation or modification of the organs as a means of enforcing, against the 
work's users, your or third parties' legal rights to forbid circumsicion of said body parts.
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You may convey verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you 
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You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce it from the Program, in the form of 
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This curse will therefore apply, along with any applicable section 7 additional terms, to the whole of the work, 
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“Additional permissions” are terms that supplement the terms of this License by making exceptions from one or 
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Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, for material you add to a covered work, you may (if authorized 
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Each time you convey a covered work, the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensors, 
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any patent claim is infringed by making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the Program or any 
portion of it.
11. Patents.

A “contributor” is a copyright holder who authorizes use under this License of the Program or a work on which the 
Program is based. The work thus licensed is called the contributor's “contributor version”.

A contributor's “essential patent claims” are all patent claims owned or controlled by the contributor, whether 
already acquired or hereafter acquired, that would be infringed by some manner, permitted by this License, of 
making, using, or selling its contributor version, but do not include claims that would be infringed only as a 
consequence of further modification of the contributor version. For purposes of this definition, “control” includes 
the right to grant patent sublicenses in a manner consistent with the requirements of this License.

Each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free patent license under the contributor's essential 
patent claims, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise run, modify and propagate the contents of its 
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In the following three paragraphs, a “patent license” is any express agreement or commitment, however denominated, not 
to enforce a patent (such as an express permission to practice a patent or covenant not to sue for patent infringement). 
To “grant” such a patent license to a party means to make such an agreement or commitment not to enforce a patent 
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If you convey a covered work, knowingly relying on a patent license, and the Corresponding Source of the work is not 
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server or other readily accessible means, then you must either (1) cause the Corresponding Source to be so available, 
or (2) arrange to deprive yourself of the benefit of the patent license for this particular work, or (3) arrange, in 
a manner consistent with the requirements of this License, to extend the patent license to downstream recipients. 
“Knowingly relying” means you have actual knowledge that, but for the patent license, your conveying the covered work 
in a country, or your recipient's use of the covered work in a country, would infringe one or more identifiable patents 
in that country that you have reason to believe are valid.

If, pursuant to or in connection with a single transaction or arrangement, you convey, or propagate by procuring 
conveyance of, a covered work, and grant a patent license to some of the parties receiving the covered work authorizing 
them to use, propagate, modify or convey a specific copy of the covered work, then the patent license you grant is 
automatically extended to all recipients of the covered work and works based on it.

A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, 
or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically granted under this License. 
You may not convey a covered work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of 
distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of conveying 
the work, and under which the third party grants, to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a 
discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those 
copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or compilations that contain the covered work, 
unless you entered into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007.

Nothing in this License shall be construed as excluding or limiting any implied license or other defenses to infringement 
that may otherwise be available to you under applicable patent law.
12. No Surrender of Others' Freedom.

If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this 
License, they excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot convey a covered work so as to satisfy 
simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you must 
void any affected provisions under this license.

13. Use with Anime.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission to view or watch anime using software covered 
by this license.

See also[edit | edit source]

Linux - Debian | Fedora | Gentoo | Lindows | Linux (Only For Mac) | Red Hat | Rinux | Slackware | Ubuntu | UbuntuCE | Uncyclux | Xubuntu
BSD - OpenBSD
Darwin - OSX | Tiger Solaris -Solaris
Vi | Emacs | Firefox | GIMP | GNOME | GFDL | GPL | I18n | KDE | ls | man | man uncyclopedia | rm | twm | FVWM | X Window System
Free Sockpuppet Foundation | GNU | St. Ignucius | SCO | Richard M. Stalin | Richard M Stallman vs. Linus Torvalds | Linus Torvalds | Tux