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The GNU General Public License (GPL) is often described as "Copyleft" because it turns traditional copyright on its head to make code freer than traditional proprietary copyright licenses. Taking that a step further, some developers are embracing the Unlicense, a license that "disclaims" copyright interest in a piece of code altogether. If the BSD, MIT, or WTFPL aren't Free enough for you, the Unlicense should fit the bill.

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altan's picture
Created by altan 12 years 19 weeks ago – Made popular 12 years 19 weeks ago
Category: Legal   Tags:
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aboutblank

12 years 18 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago

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It sounds great, publishing

It sounds great, publishing software under liberal terms. It's more freedom for everyone right? Unfortunately, there is a potential problem when people publish liberally licensed software. The problem is the existence of people who derive new software from existing free software, then publish the derivate without all the necessary user freedoms. Our free software (that was intended to bring freedom) would then become a tool of user subjugation (in direct opposition to our political intentions).

The spirit of the GPL is this: all recipients of the licensed software will have permission to practise their freedoms. If all software was free, the GPL would no longer be needed as its mission of freedom would be complete. At that point an attribution-style-liberal-free-software licence would be the most restrictive licence we would ever need.

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