diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-copyleft.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-copyleft.html | 134 |
1 files changed, 134 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-copyleft.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-copyleft.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae365e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-copyleft.html @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.86 --> +<title>Why Copyleft? +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/why-copyleft.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Why Copyleft?</h2> + +<p> +<cite>“When it comes to defending the freedom of others, to lie +down and do nothing is an act of weakness, not humility.”</cite> +</p> + +<p> +In the GNU Project we usually recommend people +use <a href="/licenses/copyleft.html">copyleft</a> licenses like GNU +GPL, rather than permissive non-copyleft free software licenses. We +don't argue harshly against the non-copyleft licenses—in fact, +we occasionally recommend them in special circumstances—but the +advocates of those licenses show a pattern of arguing harshly against +the <abbr title="General Public License">GPL</abbr>. +</p> + +<p> +In one such argument, a person stated that his use of one of the BSD +licenses was an “act of humility”: “I ask nothing of +those who use my code, except to credit me.” It is rather a +stretch to describe a legal demand for credit as +“humility”, but there is a deeper point to be considered +here. +</p> + +<p> +Humility is disregarding your own self-interest, but the interest you +abandon when you don't copyleft your code is much bigger than your +own. Someone who uses your code in a nonfree program is denying +freedom to others, so if you allow that, you're failing to defend +those people's freedom. When it comes to defending everyone's +freedom, to lie down and do nothing is an act of weakness, not +humility. +</p> + +<p> +Releasing your code under <a href="/licenses/bsd.html"> one of the BSD +licenses</a>, or some other lax, permissive license, is not doing +wrong; the program is still free software, and still a contribution to +our community. But it is weak, and in most cases it is not the best +way to promote users' freedom to share and change software. +</p> + +<p> +Here are specific examples of nonfree versions of free programs +that have done major harm to the free world.</p> + +<ul> +<li>Those who released LLVM under a non-copyleft +license <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/5238/nvidia-releases-cuda-41-cuda-goes-llvm-and-open-source-kind-of">enabled +nVidia to release a high-quality nonfree compiler</a> for its GPUs, +while keeping its instruction set secret. Thus, we can't write a free +compiler for that platform without a big reverse engineering job. The +nonfree adaptation of LLVM is the only compiler for those machines, +and is likely to remain so.</li> + +<li>Intel uses +<a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-removing-minix-management-engine-intel,35876.html">a +proprietary version of the MINIX system</a>, which is free but not +copylefted, in the Management Engine back door in its modern +processors.</li> +</ul> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to + files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should + be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this + without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the + document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the + document was modified, or published. + + If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. + Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying + years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable + year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including + being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). + + There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers + Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> + +<p>Copyright © 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2020/07/01 15:25:23 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> +</body> +</html> |