The GPL (General Public License) For The Linux OS - Linux Training Online

Linus Torvalds chose to use the General Public License (a.k.a. GPL, GPL agreement) for the distribution of Linux.

The Linux kernel and most of the free software components in a Linux "distribution" were created as part of the GNU project. And they are made available to everyone under the GNU General Public License, often referred to as the GPL.

The GPL is different from most other software licenses and radically different from

standard "commercial software" copyright licenses.

The important principles for software that is licensed under the GPL are:

Anyone can distribute GPL software for free or charge for it. They may not restrict the redistribution of it and the software does not have any warranty.

A complete copy of the source code must be freely available for the software and must include clear copyright documentation. Most “commercial software" is only provided in binary (compiled, non-source code) form and therefore cannot be changed as needed. Since the source code of a GPL program is freely available, any programmer can modify the program.

If program code is added to an existing GPL program, the modified version may also be redistributed. As always though, the source code and copyright information must be available for all programs derived from GPL software. This is the feature that allows all kinds of programmers to contribute to the Linux project. At the same time, it prevents someone from altering part of a GPL package and then claiming the software as their own.

You can see the complete GNU/GPL license at:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

Some Linux distributions only include "free" GPL software and these distros are free of charge to download - and they can also be purchased for a nominal fee on CD and DVD.

And other Linux distros are not free. They still include GPL software, but the organization that created the distro either decides to charge for the distro (such as by charging for technical support as a method of charging for the Linux OS) - or the distro includes non-free non-GPL software (as well as the GPL software, such as the Linux kernel and the GNU commands).

Linux Commands Training Tips: So, Linux is free - and it isn't - depending on where and how you get it!

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