by Brett Smith
[This article is also available in PDF and reStructuredText formats.]
After a year and a half of public consultation, thousands of comments,
and four drafts, version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) was
finally published on June 29. While there's been a lot of discussion
about the license since the first draft appeared, not many people have
talked about the benefits that it provides developers. We've published
this guide to fill that gap. We'll start with a brief refresher on free
software, copyleft, and the goals of the GPL. We'll then review the
major changes in the license to see how they advance those goals and
benefit developers.
The Foundations of the GPL
Nobody should be restricted by the software they use. There are four
freedoms that every user should have:
* the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
* the freedom to change the software to suit your needs,
* the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors, and
* the freedom to share the changes you make.
When a program offers users all of these freedoms, we call it free software.
Read More...
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html
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