this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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As far as I understand, you only have to make your changes to the code available to users of your software. You are free to make any modifications as long as you keep them to yourself and don't share the binaries (or access the service, in case of AGPL) with anyone. I might be mistaken, though.
You're correct, but the point is that it's forcing you to do something. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it is less free than Apache or MPL
Ah I get what you mean, I used to share your same view. I used to think that the MIT license was more free than GPL for the reasons you mentioned.
When Google started working on Fuchsia OS and they said it will be MIT license, I started to get worried that smart products producers would start using it instead of Linux. Then they wouldn't need to release the source code to customers as the software would no longer be GPL.
The difference is that MIT gives more freedom to the producers, while GPL gives more freedom to the consumers.
Personally, my sympathy goes to consumers, not producers, thus I understood why people say GPL is more free than say Apache or MIT.
Licenses such as MIT, Apache, MPL, etc... are a double-edged sword. 😬