The GNU General Public License ( GNU GPL or simply GPL ) is a widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project.
The GPL is the most popular and well-known example of the type of strong copyleft license that requires derived works to be available under the same copyleft. Under this philosophy, the GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD licenses are the standard examples.
The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a modified, more permissive, version of the GPL, originally intended for some software libraries. There is also a GNU Free Documentation License, which was originally intended for use with documentation for GNU software, but has also been adopted for other uses, such as the Wikipedia project.
The Affero General Public License (GNU AGPL) is a similar license with a focus on networking server software. The GNU AGPL is similar to the GNU General Public License, except that it additionally covers the use of the software over a computer network, requiring that the complete source code be made available to any network user of the AGPLed work, for example a web application. The Free Software Foundation recommends that this license is considered for any software that will commonly be run over the network.
The text of the GPL is not itself under the GPL. The license's copyright disallows modification of the license. Copying and distributing the license is allowed since the GPL requires recipients get "a copy of this License along with the Program". According to the GPL FAQ, anyone can modify the license as long as they use a different name for the license, don't mention "GNU" and remove the preamble. The preamble can be used in a modified license with permission of the FSF. However, the only license to have permission to use this preamble was version 1 of the Affero General Public License.
History
The GPL was written by Richard Stallman in 1989 for use with programs released as part of the GNU project. The original GPL was based on a unification of similar licenses used for early versions of GNU Emacs, the GNU Debugger and the GNU C Compiler. These licenses contained similar provisions to the modern GPL, but were specific to each program, rendering them incompatible, despite being the same license. Stallman's goal was to produce one license that could be used for any project, thus making it possible for many projects to share code.
As of August 2007, the GPL accounted for nearly 65% of the 43,442 free software projects listed on Freshmeat, and as of January 2006, about 68% of the projects listed on SourceForge.net. Similarly, a 2001 survey of Red Hat Linux 7.1 found that 50% of the source code was licensed under the GPL and a 1997 survey of MetaLab, then the largest free software archive, showed that the GPL accounted for about half of the software licensed there in. One survey of a large repository of open-source software reported that in July 1997, about half the software packages with explicit license terms used the GPL. Prominent free software programs licensed under the GPL include the Linux kernel and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). Some other free software programs are dual-licensed under multiple licenses, often with one of the licenses being the GPL.
Some observers believe that the strong copyleft provided by the GPL was crucial to the success of Linux, giving the programmers who contributed to it the confidence that their work would benefit the whole world and remain free, rather than being exploited by software companies that would not have to give anything back to the community.
The second version of the license, version 2, was released in 1991. Over the following 15 years, some members of the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) community came to believe that some software and hardware vendors were finding loopholes in the GPL, allowing GPL-licensed software to be exploited in ways that were contrary to the intentions of the programmers. These concerns included tivoization (the inclusion of GPL-licensed software in hardware that will refuse to run modified versions of its software); the use of unpublished, modified versions of GPL software behind web interfaces; and patent deals between Microsoft and Linux and Unix distributors that may represent an attempt to use patents as a weapon against competition from Linux.
Version 3 was developed to attempt to address these concerns. It was officially released on June 29, 2007.
Versions
Version 1
Version 1 of the GNU GPL, released in January 1989, prevented what were then the two main ways that software distributors restricted the freedoms that define free software. The first problem was that distributors may publish binary files only – executable, but not readable or modifiable by humans. To prevent this, GPLv1 said that any vendor distributing binaries must also make the human readable source code available under the same licensing terms.
The second problem was the distributors might add additional restrictions, either by adding restrictions to the license, or by combining the software with other software which had other restrictions on its distribution. If this was done, then the union of the two sets of restrictions would apply to the combined work, thus unacceptable restrictions could be added. To prevent this, GPLv1 said that modified versions, as a whole, had to be distributed under the terms in GPLv1. Therefore, software distributed under the terms of GPLv1 could be combined with software under more permissive terms, as this would not change the terms under which the whole could be distributed, but software distributed under GPLv1 could not be combined with software distributed under a more restrictive license, as this would conflict with the requirement that the whole be distributable under the terms of GPLv1.
Version 2
According to Richard Stallman, the major change in GPLv2 was the "Liberty or Death" clause, as he calls it — Section 7. This section says that if somebody has restrictions imposed that prevent him or her from distributing GPL-covered software in a way that respects other users' freedom (for example, if a legal ruling states that he or she can only distribute the software in binary form), he or she cannot distribute it at all.
By 1990, it was becoming apparent that a less restrictive license would be strategically useful for some software libraries; when version 2 of the GPL (GPLv2) was released in June 1991, therefore, a second license — the Library General Public License — was introduced at the same time and numbered with version 2 to show that both were complementary. The version numbers diverged in 1999 when version 2.1 of the LGPL was released, which renamed it the GNU Lesser General Public License to reflect its place in the philosophy.
Version 3
In late 2005, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced work on version 3 of the GPL (GPLv3). On January 16, 2006, the first "discussion draft" of GPLv3 was published, and the public consultation began. The public consultation was originally planned for nine to fifteen months but finally stretched to eighteen months with four drafts being published. The official GPLv3 was released by FSF on June 29, 2007. GPLv3 was written by Richard Stallman, with legal counsel from Eben Moglen and Software Freedom Law Center.
According to Stallman, the most important changes are in relation to software patents, free software license compatibility, the definition of "source code", and hardware restrictions on software modification ("tivoization"). Other changes relate to internationalization, how license violations are handled, and how additional permissions can be granted by the copyright holder.
Other notable changes include allowing authors to add certain additional conditions or requirements to their contributions. One of those new optional requirements, sometimes referred to as the Affero clause, is intended to fulfill a request regarding software as a service; adding this clause produces the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.
The public consultation process was coordinated by the Free Software Foundation with assistance from Software Freedom Law Center, Free Software Foundation Europe, and other free software groups. Comments were collected from the public via the gplv3.fsf.org web portal. That portal runs purpose-written software called stet. These comments were passed to four committees comprising approximately 130 people, including supporters and detractors of FSF's goals. Those committees researched the comments submitted by the public and passed their summaries to Stallman for a decision on what the license would do.
During the public consultation process, 962 comments were submitted for the first draft. By the end, a total of 2,636 comments had been submitted.
The third draft was released on March 28, 2007. This draft included language intended to prevent patent cross-licenses like the controversial Microsoft-Novell patent agreement and restricts the anti-tivoization clauses to a legal definition of a "User" or "consumer product". It also explicitly removed the section on "Geographical Limitations", whose probable removal
License Management
How to obtain a New Mexico Contractors License How to obtain a New Mexico Qualifying Party Certificate ... General Building Work Verification Form Contractor ...
Georgia Board of General and Residential Contractors
Pursuant to Georgia law, the following types of contractors must obtain a license from the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors by July 1, 2008:
DCRA Accepting Business License Applications for General Contractors ...
DCRA Accepting Business License Applications for General Contractors ... engaged in the business of general contracting or construction management to obtain a business license ...
Contractor Licensing - Class A License
GENERAL CONTRACTOR. Class A, General Contractor. A Class A License shall entitle the holder thereof to construct ... Obtain a certificate of competency from a ...
Contractor Licensing Assitance in California, Nevada, Arizona since ...
... License - Capitol Services assists general contractors and specialty sub-contractors by providing a full range of services to help you obtain a Nevada ...
General Contractor's Registration
How To Obtain A General Contractor's License: In Person: Go to the City Licensing and Permits Office, 200 Ross Street.
Study for your North or South Carolina building contractor license
This program makes it easy to obtain your general contractor license because it is designed to present and reinforce information in several different ways.
Contractor Licensing - Arizona General Residential - General Small ...
Arizona General Contractor License - Residential, Small Commercial (B, B2, KB-2) ... Business Management exam i s also required to be passed to obtain your contractor’s license.
TO OBTAIN YOUR SUB-CONTRACTOR’S LICENSE IN THE CITY OF HOBART YOU ...
requirements for a general contractor license in the city of hobart. 414 main street. hobart, indiana 46342. 219-942-1722 fax: 219-947-2314
General-Contractor-License.com | General Contractor License | How To ...
California contractors license exam ... Contractors License; General Contractor Tools; Florida Roofing License; Arizona Contractor; Business License Requirements; How To Obtain Business ...