GPL
The GNU General Public License (GPL) is "a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works" created and maintained by the Free Software Foundation.
Contents
Background
(Keep this short - 2 sentences.)
Sharing
The GPL is about sharing.
Commons
The GPL is a way to preserve a commons, while giving people the freedom to do what they want with the hardware and software. The GPL was invented when RMS when his colleague 'privatized', i.e. stole, a group project, emacs.
Dr. Adrian Bowyer and hundred of thousand of Linux user-developers find the GPL useful to prevent further rent-seeking/theft by bad actors.
Further discussion may be beyond the scope of this webpage.
Sticky
The GPL has been framed as 'viral' but it is really 'sticky', and reverts to normal copyright in the case of plagiarism and rent-seeking.
Links
- http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html - The latest version of the GPL
- http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html - GPL FAQ
