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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.
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]
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.
The strong copyleft GPL is written to prevent distribution within proprietary software. [115] [116] Weak copyleft licenses impose specific requirements on derivative works that may allow the covered code to be distributed within proprietary software in certain circumstances. [77]
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.
"Weak copyleft" licenses are generally used for the creation of software libraries, to allow other software to link to the library, and then be redistributed without the legal requirement for the work to be distributed under the library's copyleft license. Only changes to the weak-copylefted software itself become subject to the copyleft ...
SA (share-alike): restriction on freedoms 2 or 3, the copy must distributed under a license identical to the license that governs the original work (see copyleft). ND (Non-derivative): exclusion of freedom 3. NC (Non-commercial): partial exclusion of freedoms 2 and 3 of commercial purposes. Other: other less usual restrictions on "open licenses".
In the mid-1980s, the GNU project produced copyleft free-software licenses for each of its software packages. An early such license (the "GNU Emacs Copying Permission Notice") was used for GNU Emacs in 1985, [5] which was revised into the "GNU Emacs General Public License" in late 1985, and clarified in March 1987 and February 1988.