On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 14:20, Haworth, Michael A. Michael_Haworth@pas-technologies.com wrote: ...
for some things - got the terse email regarding 'hidden clauses' in the Linux licensing
...
One quite refreshing thing about Free Software is that most of it uses only a small handful of licenses. In the proprietary world, most software comes with its own unique license, and so it's SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult to stay aware of all their conditions and restrictions.
Linux is licensed exclusively under GPLv2. The majority of software included in GNU-based distros, and Free Software in general is licensed under one of the generations of the GPL. It's unusually short and to the point for a software license, and exceptionally clear.
For the official info on the GPL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html