General Public License

Usually the name General Public License (GPL) refers to the GNU General Public License, a free software license written by Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation. The current version of the license, GPLv3, released in June 2007, includes changes designed to combat the use of Digital Rights Management, or DRM. There are many other free or open source software licenses. All these licenses allow anyone to redistribute programs placed under them; the main peculiarity of the GPL is that it requires that, if you use GPL-licensed code in any program you write, you license that derivative program under the GPL. Some version of the GNU GPL is in use for a large percentage (estimated at 60%[1]) of open source software.

## Contents

* 1 Popular GPL-Licensed Software
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Popular GPL-Licensed Software[edit]

1. MediaWiki (used to run Conservapedia)
2. Linux (the kernel and most basic tools)
3. Mozilla Firefox, a popular web browser
4. OpenOffice, a free software competitor to Microsoft Office
5. Pidgin, a free software instant messaging program

## See also[edit]

* Open Source
* Free software
* Linux

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.blackducksoftware.com/oss

## External links[edit]

* The Free Software Foundation
* The GNU project
* Text of the GNU General Public License