Introduction
Free Software is software that respects users' freedoms. The GNU General Public License, or GPL, is a copyleft software license that lies at the heart of the Free Software community. It is designed to guarantee that all the users of Free Software are granted the four basic freedoms that define Free Software: the freedom to study, copy, modify, and redistribute the program.
The original GPL license was written by Richard Stallman in 1989, and then later upgraded to version 2 in 1991. 15 years later, the Free Software Foundation is now in the process of wrapping up GPL version 3.
With GPLv3 close to being complete, the process of developing the next version has begun. This website tracks the development progress of the bleeding-edge GPLv4.
Shocking Revelation: Original GPL was a Joke?
In a surprising twist, RMS has come out saying that he originally wrote the GPL as one of his many silly MIT antics when he used to break down office doors and steal terminals. RMS: "It still amazes me that GNU -- which started out as a practical joke -- has turned into the world's most powerful computer operating system. Fortunately, there was Linus who understood my humor and developed a joke of a kernel.
Current GPLv4 Draft
Section maintained by Swamii
- Thou Shalt Smite Thy Microsoftie
- Thou Shalt Bow To Thy Benovolent Leader RMS Thy God And Have Ye No Other God Before Him
- That Shalt Not Take the Name of GNU/Linux In Vain
- Thou Shalt Mod Down the unholy SlashDot Troll, For He is an Abomination unto Thee
- Thou Shalt Not Click on false Gmail Links
- Thou Shalt Not Fall to the Evil Seductress BSD, for She is an Unrighteous Whore Unto Thee
- Thou Shalt Close Thine Ears Upon Hearing the False Testimony of the SCO, the Lies of TCO, and the injustices of the CMDRTCO.
- Thou Shalt Moderate this Post to the Heavens, That All The Earth May Know of the Great And Fearful GPL.
Latest News
GPLv4 to finally resolve the emacs-vi war
Rumoured clause to be included in GPLv4 will mandate the usage of GNU/Emacs for all GPL software development. Some more work will probably be needed to be done before this decision is made final, as some of the beta testers complained that, "although emacs is an awesomely powerful OS, it lacks a good text editor."
GPLv4 to have customizable skins
Lord Bitman reports: "because customizable skins make everything better." Additionally, Enrico Pulatzo reported another notable change from previous versions: "[GPLv4] finally removes the word 'suckers' and is totally written in leetspeak."
GPLv4's Software Patents Strategy Solidified
Linus Torvalds, creator of GNU/Linux has proposed a strategy for defending Open Source software against the threat of software patents. His (overloaded) method will be compiled into GPLv4: He discussed the implementation details in an email to the kernel mailing list: "If somebody sues you, you [...] just hire a hit-man to whack the stupid git."