The
GPL is a licence commonly used for many free software projects,
including the Linux operating system kernel. The GPL licenses
software free of cost but requires any re-distributor to provide
the full source code and a copy of the full licence text.
It was written by Richard M Stallman, founder of the GNU Project
– which developed a free UNIX-like operating system called GNU.
Stallman's site explains that GNU, pronounced "guh-noo," is a
recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix."
Variants of the GNU operating system which use the Linux kernel
are now widely used. These systems are usually referred to as Linux
systems; but Stallman points out that they are more accurately
called GNU/Linux systems.
Stallman also founded the Free Software Foundation – a US
non-profit group dedicated to the promotion of free software.
The current version of the GPL is now 14 years old and,
according to the Free Software Foundation Europe, while it has
become central to the activities and operation of a large number of
companies and governments around the world, it needs updating.
The Free Software Foundation has therefore started a project to
bring together organisations, software developers and software
users from around the world, over the course of 2006, to update the
licence in as consensual a way as possible.
The process will be overseen by the Free Software Foundation,
supported by its legal counsel the Software Freedom Law Centre
(SFLC). European activities will be coordinated by the FSFE.
"With the release of GPLv3, we aim to increase the international
reach of the Free Software movement,” said Peter Brown, Executive
Director of the Free Software Foundation. “To develop this new
licence, we will be contacting communities across the globe to
ensure their participation in the update of one of the most
important social documents of our time."
The project will be supported by a grant of €150,000 from Dutch
open-source group Stichting Nlnet.
