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Discussion on: GNU Public License is all but free and you should never use it

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Maciej Sopyło

The point of releasing a library as GPL is to keep it's use to only Free software (it's explained better on the FSF website). Which license you choose depends on what you want people to do with it.

But if Linux wasn't GPL the world would be totally different now - it's because of this license I as an end user can force a company that made some IOT device to give me their kernel sources so I can make modifications, and - what's more important - verify that it's secure.

Same with Android - you wouldn't get amazing ROMs because device manufacturers wouldn't share the kernel sources and DTDs.