How Is Linux Licensed?
Linus has placed the
Linux kernel under the GNU General Public License, which basically
means that you may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but you may
not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and you must make
the source code available. This is not the same as Public Domain. See the Copyright FAQ, ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/law/copyright, for details. Full details are in the file COPYING in the Linux kernel sources (probably in /usr/src/linux on your system). There is a FAQ for the GPL at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl-faq.html. The
licenses of the utilities and programs which come with the
installations vary. Much of the code is from the GNU Project at the
Free Software Foundation, and is also under the GPL. Some other major
programs often included in Linux distributions are under a BSD license
and other similar licenses. Note
that discussion about the merits or otherwise of the GPL should be
posted to the news group gnu.misc.discuss, and not to the news:comp.os.linux hierarchy. For legal questions, refer to the answer: Where Are Linux Legal Issues Discussed?. What Is the Best Distribution, SCSI Card, Editor, CD-ROM Drive, etc?
What Mailing Lists Are There? See our index for more reviews Write a review and win an Apple Ipod |
