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Copyleft is a distinguishing feature of some free software licenses, while other free-software licenses are not copyleft licenses because they do not require the licensee to distribute derivative works under the same license. There is an ongoing debate as to which class of license provides the greater degree of freedom.
The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL, or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or copyleft licenses, that guarantee end users the freedoms to run, study, share, or modify the software. [7] The GPL was the first copyleft license available for general use.
Permissive licenses come from academia. Copyleft licenses come from the free software movement. Copyleft licenses require derivative works to be distributed with the source code and under a similar license. Since the mid-2000s, courts in multiple countries have upheld the terms of both types of license.
Copyleft licenses (also known as "share-alike"), [46] require source code to be distributed with software and require the source code be made available under a similar license. [48] [49] Copyleft represents the farthest that reuse can be restricted while still being considered free software. [50]
For instance, copyleft licenses impose a duty on licensees to share their modifications to the work with the user or copy owner under some circumstances. No such duty would apply had the software in question been in the public domain .
The term reciprocal license has also been used to describe copyleft, but has also been used for non-libre licenses (see, for example, the Microsoft Limited Reciprocal License). Free content and software licenses without the share-alike requirement are described as permissive licenses .
Some licenses are called "copyleft" licenses. Essentially, they have three key properties: A work licensed with a copyleft license can be copied at will. All published derivative works must use exactly the same license as the original: if you use the work, you're forced to use the same license for your own original work as well.
Pages in category "Copyleft software licenses" The following 24 pages are in this category, out of 24 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. A.