2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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General Public Virus
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. Pejorative name for some versions of the GNU project copyleft or General
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2014-07-26 03:53:53 -04:00
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Public License (GPL), which requires that any tools or apps incorporating
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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copylefted code must be source-distributed on the same anti-proprietary
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terms as GNU stuff. Thus it is alleged that the copyleft infects software
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generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software that
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reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's official position is
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that copyright law limits the scope of the GPL to programs textually
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incorporating significant amounts of GNU code , and that the infection is
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not passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source is transmitted.
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Nevertheless, widespread suspicion that the copyleft language is
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boobytrapped has caused many developers to avoid using GNU tools and the
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GPL. Changes in the language of the version 2.0 GPL did not eliminate this
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problem.
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