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GNU General Public License (GPL)

Also known as: GPL, General Public License, GNU General Public License, GNU GPL, GPLv2, GNU General Public Licenses

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Open-source license - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 7 facts
claimWhile there are occasional edge cases where only one of the FSF or the OSI accepts a specific license, popular free-software licenses, including the General Public License (GPL), are considered open source.
accountAn early version of copyleft licensing was utilized for the 1985 release of GNU Emacs, and the term later became associated with the Free Software Foundation's reciprocal licenses, specifically the GNU General Public License (GPL).
claimReciprocal licenses, such as the GNU General Public License, grant rights to use, modify, and distribute work on the condition that derivative works are released under a license offering the same freedoms, and software built on a copyleft base must include the source code under the same or a similar license.
accountCorporations have developed and utilized reciprocal licenses with a narrower scope than the General Public License (GPL) to meet practical needs, such as Netscape drafting its own copyleft terms for the Mozilla project after rejecting permissive licenses.
perspectiveRichard Stallman wrote the GNU General Public License (GPL) with the goal of increasing the body of available free software, which contrasts with traditional proprietary software licenses written with the goal of increasing profit.
referenceThe General Public License (GPL) and the Affero General Public License (AGPL) use a broad scope to define derivative works covered by reciprocal provisions, with the AGPL extending the reciprocal obligation to software made available over a network.
claimThe strong copyleft GNU General Public License (GPL) is designed to prevent the distribution of covered code within proprietary software.
Free and open-source software - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 4 facts
claimThe Free Software Foundation (FSF) released version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL) on June 29, 2007.
accountLinus Torvalds released the Linux kernel in 1991, and it was relicensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) in 1992, marking a major step toward a fully Free operating system.
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) is one of the most widely used copyleft licenses in the free and open-source software (FOSS) community and was created by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
claimLinus Torvalds stated that the only valid version of the GNU General Public License for the Linux kernel is version 2, and not version 2.2, version 3.x, or any other version, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Open-source hardware - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 4 facts
claimIn the early to mid 2000s, the FreeIO organization focused on free/open hardware designs released under the GNU General Public License.
claimThe Free Model Foundry and OpenSPARC projects utilize the GNU General Public License (GPL).
claimFreeCores insists on using the GNU General Public License (GPL) for their projects.
claimThe LART project releases its software under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and its hardware design under the MIT License.
Open Hardware Licenses - P2P Foundation Wiki wiki.p2pfoundation.net P2P Foundation Jun 17, 2015 4 facts
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) relaxes copyright restrictions to provide users with more freedom to use copyrighted information than they would otherwise have.
claimOpen Hardware Licenses (OHL) only affect the documentation related to the hardware, rather than the physical products themselves, unlike the General Public License (GPL) in software.
measurementThe GNU General Public License (GPL) is used for approximately 50–70% of all free programs, making it more popular than all other free software licenses combined.
claimCopyleft licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (BY-SA) are popular in the field of free and open hardware, but they function differently than in software because hardware is generally not protected by copyright law.
Open Source Licensing Explained: A Comprehensive Guide - TuxCare tuxcare.com TuxCare Oct 21, 2024 3 facts
referenceThe GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a weaker form of the GPL that allows linking to the licensed software without requiring the entire linked program to be open source.
claimThe GPL is an example of a copyleft license that ensures derivative works remain open source.
claimUsing GPL-licensed software in a proprietary project without releasing the source code violates the terms of the GPL, which can lead to legal conflicts between a company's desire for confidentiality and open source license requirements.
Open-source software - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 3 facts
claimRichard Stallman created the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989, which was subsequently updated in 1991.
claimExamples of free-software and open-source licenses include the Apache licenses, BSD licenses, GNU General Public Licenses, GNU Lesser General Public License, MIT License, Eclipse Public License, and Mozilla Public License.
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) was created by the GNU project, allowing developers to release software that could be legally shared and modified.
Open Source Licenses: Definition, Types, and Comparison solutionshub.epam.com EPAM Feb 3, 2023 2 facts
claimSoftware projects GIMP and Bash use the GNU General Public License (GPL).
claimOpen-source software licenses are categorized into three main types: Strong Copyleft licenses (such as the General Public License), Weak Copyleft licenses (such as the Lesser General Public License), and Permissive licenses (such as the MIT License and the BSD License).
Open Source Licenses: Types and Comparison - Snyk snyk.io Snyk 2 facts
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) preserves license notifications and copyright terms and is suitable for commercial, patent, and private use.
claimThe most popular copyleft open source licenses, ordered by restrictiveness, are the Affero GPL (AGPL), GNU General Public License (GPL), Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Eclipse Public License (EPL), and the Mozilla Public License (MPL).
What is OSS? - CircleCI circleci.com CircleCI Jun 10, 2024 2 facts
referenceThe General Public License (GPL) is a license exclusively for the GNU project created by Richard Stallman and managed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Under the GPL, copyright notices cannot be removed, and derived programs must be published under the GPL.
claimThe GNU General Public License, created by the Free Software Foundation, is the most famous copyleft license.
Open-source hardware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia smoothieware.github.io Smoothieware Apr 15, 2016 2 facts
claimThe Open Source Hardware Association recommends seven licenses that adhere to their open-source hardware definition: the GNU General Public License (GPL), the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL), the TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL), the FreeBSD license, the MIT license, and the Creative Commons Attribution license.
claimCommon copyleft licenses include the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
Open Source Software: What is OSS? - Sonatype sonatype.com Sonatype 2 facts
claimThe General Public License (GPL) imposes conditions that are sometimes incompatible with common business models.
claimStrong copyleft licenses, such as the GNU General Public License (GPL), require derivative work or software that integrates licensed code to be released under the GPL terms.
What Is Open Source Software and Why Use OSS? coursera.org Coursera Dec 31, 2025 2 facts
accountOpen source software began when MIT programmer Richard Stallman developed the GNU General Public License.
claimRichard Stallman developed the GNU General Public License to help developers access, explore, and understand other people’s work, fostering a community dedicated to learning and enhancing code.
Understanding Open-source Licenses: Key factors to Consider leanix.net LeanIX 2 facts
claimThe Zlib License is a permissive, free software license that is compatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL) and is frequently used for graphics libraries.
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) is the most well-known copyleft license.
Governance of open source software: state of the art - Springer Nature link.springer.com Springer Jun 9, 2007 2 facts
referenceThe General Public License (GPL) functions as a regulatory framework that allows for the free use, modification, and redistribution of source code, with the strict requirement that any redistribution must carry the same license terms.
claimSome university departments have adopted the Open Source Software (OSS) model for distributing their internally produced software under General Public License (GPL) terms.
Open Hardware Licenses - The Turing Way book.the-turing-way.org The Turing Way 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL), developed by Richard Stallman, is a popular copyleft license used for software within open source hardware projects.
The role of open source in shaping software thetopvoices.com The Top Voices Nov 12, 2024 1 fact
claimSkilled enthusiasts created open alternatives to commercial software and licensed them under terms like the General Public License (GPL), which mandated that new derivatives remain open.
What Is Open Source Software (OSS)? f5.com F5 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) is an example of an Open Source Software (OSS) license that imposes obligations on users, such as the requirement to share modifications or derivative works.
What Is Open Source Software? - IBM ibm.com IBM 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL), innovated by Richard Stallman, is the first copyleft software license and requires that anyone who enhances the source code must publish their edited version freely to all.
What is open source software? oss-watch.ac.uk OSS Watch May 1, 2005 1 fact
claimBoth the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the MIT licence meet the criteria of the Open Source Definition, despite having different lengths and intents.
Software License Types Explained: Open and Closed Source sonatype.com Sonatype Apr 26, 2023 1 fact
claimThe General Public License (GPL) and Affero General Public License (AGPL) are examples of copyleft or reciprocal open source software licenses.
The Open Source Definition - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia 1 fact
referenceThe Open Source Initiative (OSI) particularly recommends seven approved licenses as popular, widely used, or having strong communities: Apache License 2.0, BSD 3-Clause and BSD 2-Clause Licenses, all versions of the GNU General Public License, all versions of the GNU Lesser Public License, MIT License, Mozilla Public License 2.0, Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), and Eclipse Public License version 2.0.
The Open Source Definition (Annotated) opensource.org Open Source Initiative 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) versions 2 and 3 are conformant with the Open Source Definition requirement regarding non-restriction of other software, as software linked with GPLed libraries only inherits the GPL if it forms a single work.
What is Open Source: Understanding Its Impact on Technology and ... algocademy.com Algocademy 1 fact
referenceThe BSD License 2.0 is a permissive open source license that is less restrictive than the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Understanding Open-Source Software Licensing - Kemp IT Law kempitlaw.com Kemp IT Law Mar 13, 2025 1 fact
claimCopyleft licenses, such as GPL and LGPL, require that derivative works be released under the same license, which can potentially impact proprietary software.
The Complete Guide to Open Source Licenses - FOSSA fossa.com FOSSA 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License (GPL) is a strong copyleft license that requires any work incorporating GPL code to be distributed under the GPL.
What is Open Source Software? Definition Guide, Benefits & Types sonarsource.com SonarSource 1 fact
claimCommon examples of open source software licenses include the MIT License, the BSD License, and the GNU General Public License (GPL).
What Is Open Source Software Licensing? - Coursera coursera.org Coursera Dec 9, 2025 1 fact
claimThe GNU General Public License is a strong copyleft license that requires users to distribute source code, including any modifications, under the original license terms.
What is Open Source Software (OSS)? - GitHub github.com GitHub Jul 29, 2024 1 fact
referenceThe GNU General Public License (GPL) v2, created by the GNU Project, requires that source code be made available for public use and is a copyleft license, meaning any version of the source code must be released under the same GPLv2 license.
Open Source Hardware Definition - P2P Foundation Wiki wiki.p2pfoundation.net P2P Foundation Feb 9, 2019 1 fact
claimThe OSHW definition clause requiring documentation to be released "in the preferred form for which a hardware developer would modify the design" was borrowed directly from the General Public License (GPL).
What is Open Source Software (OSS)? - Harness harness.io Harness Dec 17, 2025 1 fact
claimOpen source projects frequently use licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL) or the MIT License to encourage free distribution and modification, ensuring the software remains open for future generations.