On 02/09/2025 14:17, Daniel Abrecht via Dng wrote:
> The GPL doesn't erect any walls at all. It just ensures that anyone using the program will have access to it's source code and can modify it to fit his own needs.
> If that isn't what open source is all about, I don't know what is.

Extra wording is restrictions. If I have proprietary code then introducing even
GPL2 with a linking exception can be a bit of a problem though generally
modifying a library and providing changes back is fine but you still have to be
careful about copying code which means that I am less likely to use that code
and have any changes to give back in the first place. Full GPL3 is worse. Those
that don't want to give back but are forced to generally provide code if
requested that needs heavily reworking or pay no heed to keeping it usable by
upstream. There is perhaps a point for the GPL to be made about e.g. a wifi card
manufacturer providing code (forced by wanting to support Linux) but no
documentation and so any code is better than nothing.