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My biggest question is whether GPL3 will be compatible with the many existing "GPL-esque" free licenses, which are currently GPL-incompatible, because they contain patent-nullification clauses?

As it is currently drafted, the GPL v3 has a patent-nullification clause itself: section 11. Furthermore, it allows under section 7 that derivative works have "Additional Terms" that are not in the GPL, but not incompatible with the idea of Free Software. The goal of section is to have less free software licenses that are GPL-incompatible; which directly addresses your question

Examples: (...) Apache License v2

In any case, if you have comments on the latest(L)GPL v3 draft, the FSF's comment page is the best place to do it. The reason this whole GPL v3 thing takes so much time (the first draft for GPL v3 was published Monday, January 16, 2006!) is that the FSF takes serious comments seriously (and of course, because of certain vendors' deals as well).

My biggest question is whether GPL3 will be compatible with the many existing "GPL-esque" free licenses, which are currently GPL-incompatible, because they contain patent-nullification clauses?

As it is currently drafted, the GPL v3 has a patent-nullification clause itself: section 11. Furthermore, it allows under section 7 that derivative works have "Additional Terms" that are not in the GPL, but not incompatible with the idea of Free Software. The goal of section is to have less free software licenses that are GPL-incompatible; which directly addresses your question

Examples: (...) Apache License v2

In any case, if you have comments on the latest(L)GPL v3 draft, the FSF's comment page is the best place to do it. The reason this whole GPL v3 thing takes so much time (the first draft for GPL v3 was published Monday, January 16, 2006!) is that the FSF takes serious comments seriously (and of course, because of certain vendors' deals as well).

You don't need shouting at me. Sorry for that strawman thing, you seem to be genuinely confused.

But I am not making up stuff.

Section 3.b:

"b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,"

Or, just read:

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html #WhatDoesWrittenOfferValid

The relevant text says "The reason we require the offer to be valid for any third party is so that people who receive the binaries indirectly in that way can order the source code from you. "

So, what is your position again ? :-)

Cheers,

--fred

Drafting this paragraph was dicult because it is necessary to distinguish between pernicious agreements and other kinds of agreements which do not have an acutely harmful eect, such as patent contributions, insurances, customary cross-license promises to customers, promises incident to ordinary asset transfers, and standard settlement practices. We believe that we have achieved this, but it is hard to be sure, so we are considering making this paragraph apply only to agreements signed in the future. If we do that, companies would only need to structure future agreements in accord with the fth paragraph, and would not face problems from past agreements that cannot be changed now. We are not yet convinced that this is necessary, and we plan to ask for more comment on the question. This is why the date-based cutoff is included in brackets. One drawback of this cutoff date is that it would let Novell off from part of the response to its deal with Microsoft. However, this may not be a great drawback, because the fourth paragraph will apply to that deal. We believe it is suffcient to ensure either the deals voluntary modication by Microsoft or its reduction to comparative harmlessness. Novell expected to gain commercial advantage from its patent deal with Microsoft; the effects of the fourth paragraph in undoing the harm of that deal will necessarily be visited upon Novell.

So, FSF is really asking "should we let Novell and Microsoft off, and just apply this to future violators?" I don't think they'll do that.

The rationale for the changes explains that there are some concerns about other agreements that may have been signed before this date without malicious intent. It may be difficult for the parties involved in such agreements to re-negociate them, so that's one of the reason why this tentative cutoff date has been added to the draft.

For more details, see the last two paragraphs on pages 26-27 of the PDF file.

How much of the GNU project will be forked at that time, and how many of the developers will follow the GPLv2 branches?

You seem to ignore the fact that the vast majority of the developers working on GNU projects want the GPLv3 sooner rather than later. Take a look at the list of GNU projects (not just projects released under the GNU GPL, but official GNU projects) and check if you are using any of these. This includes little things like the GNU C library (used by all programs), gcc, gdb and many other tools, most of GNOME, applications like Emacs or GIMP, etc.

'defined "user Products" .. anything that goes in the home. So business-style rack appliances .. can Tivo-ize at their leisure .. This seems....messy, and a huge potential hole'

'Products that are commonly used for personal as well as commercial purposes are consumer products, even if the person invoking rights is a commercial entity intending to use the product for commercial purposes', rationale.pdf

'what if the third party you make a deal with isn't in the business of distributing software?'

Well then they won't be liable for selling any infringing code will they !!

was .. Re:Quick issues

First off, a public service. The actual draft is located here - it's linked as "comment on the GPLv3 draft" but it turns out it's the actual draft itself. (Apparently it's a weird web 2.0 interface to post and read comments, but it's the text of the draft.)

Secondly, does any know if this removes the provision that I have to give up my private encryption keys if I use GPLv3 software?

And finally, it's sad to note that the GPLv3 is now about as full of legalese as your typical Microsoft EULA. I have no idea what it's saying any more. Kind of sad that he live in such an age that licenses that the end-user can understand can't be used because lawyers will poke them full of holes.

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Components of one of my GNU/Linux installations, their functions, and their sources:

• Linux; kernel; Linus Torvalds, et al.
• GRUB; bootloader; GNU Project
• coreutils; core operating system components (e.g.: unix commands) contained in fileutils (chgrp, chmod, chown, cpdd, df, dir, dircolors, du, install, ln, ls, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mv, rm, rmdir, sync, touch, vdir), shellutils (basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostname, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, users, who, whoami, yes), and textutils (cat, cksum, comm, csplit, cut, expand, fmt, fold, head, join, md5sum, nl, od, paste, pr, ptx, shalsum, sort, split, sum, tac, tail, tr, tsort, unexpand, uniq, wc); GNU Project
• grep; regular expression parser; GNU Project
• bash; command shell (enables utiliziation of coreutils); GNU Project
• nano; text editor (yes, operating systems contain text editors); GNU Project
• Emacs; text editor, etc.; GNU Project
• gcc; compiler collection; GNU Project
• make; compilation assisting tool; GNU Project
• patch; patching tool; GNU Project
• gdb; debugger; GNU Project
• gawk; string manupulation language; GNU Project
• sed; text stream editor; GNU Project
• finger; user info; GNU Project
• cron; scheduling; GNU Project
• parted; partition editor; GNU Project
• tar; archiving; GNU Project
• gzip; file compression; GNU Project
• GnuPG; asymmetric key cryptography; GNU Project
• less; paginator; GNU Project
• ncurses; text display tool; GNU Project
• screen; multi-terminal utility; GNU Project
• time; time-reporting tool; GNU Project
• wget; file downloader; GNU Project
• which; executable path tool; GNU Project

That's not counting all of the libraries, GNOME, or GUI tools (Nautilus, et al.). If you count--at minimum--GNOME and X, then you may add GNOME (GNU Project) and X.org (X.Org Foundatio

Looking at the links provided in TFA, it's hard to find the real violation here. For example, the link to HiSense quotes an email (March 2006) from the technical lead at USDTV, responding to a user request for copies of the source per the GNU GPL. He states that he would be happy to put up the files for download via a (web?) server, but they were moving offices and didn't have a box to use. Lame, but looks to be in good faith. Until they could put up a server, the technical lead listed the (unmodified?) software components covered by the GNU GPL:

• Linux kernel version 2.4.18
• glibc version 2.2.4
• libpthread version 0.9
• busybox version 0.60.0
• GNU tar 1.13.19
• gzip version 1.3

There is then a mention on the site (not part of the email) that the company has since hit financial problems, possibly implying they are going out of business. In fact, USDTV did go under. Technically, a violation of the GNU GPL for not providing the source on demand, but would be hard to bring to court. Especially since USDTV is out of business now. :-P

Under the GNU GPL, a developer who modifies or distributes code under the GNU GPL is required to redistribute the source code, "for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution". However, a program that is separate from the GNU GPL code (for example, a program that runs on top of the Linux kernel) is not bound by the GNU GPL. So they company isn't bound by anything to release code or binaries to their subscriber box software. And in any case, $30 could be a reasonable fee for physical distribution, since they are sending a field rep to your home - if they were distributing source code to the GNU GPL components (which doesn't appear to be the case.)

Reading through the (long!) forum, the company appears to be distributing an updated kernel and their own subscriber box software updates - from a USB "key" (I assume a USB fob or somesuch.) Forum members report they haven't been able to read the USB key on a PC. I didn't go through all 19 web pages of comments, but I didn't see anyone complaining about trying to get the source code.

So after much searching, it appears the submitted article is someone complaining they aren't getting upgraded TV software for free, and using the GNU GPL as leverage in their argument. Am I missing something???

I was the network manager for a bank a while back, and during our audits were were given a list of registry/active directory policies required to get a good rating by those auditors. They also had a list of services that needed to be disabled as well (unless there was a compelling business case for those services).

Did it make a difference or was it just more busy work? Did they have you get rid of IE, Outlook Express and other trouble makers that lead to propagation like this? Even if you do get rid of those applications, can you really secure the underlying software without software freedom? I know that might be difficult at first, but it's easier than the continual patch and upgrade train most companies are already on.

Here

It would only prohibit them from conveying something they owned a right to this way. When you download a distro, you have to pass the rights they gave you along with the right you have to the code/software with it. The novell-microsoft deal doesn't count unless the covers pattented work is submited by Novell. The microsoft-novell deal doesn't give novell the rights that microsoft owns. Otherwise, you are giving all the rights you hold over it.

Wendy Seltzer was our pro-bono, FSF-appointed attorney for a few years when we were investigating a commercial company (not intentionally linked here, they don't deserve the hits) for using our GPL code without complying with the license.

All we wanted, was for them to bring themselves into compliance... and they insisted that they were, and we were wrong, and that the GPL was "...subject to interpretation". So we contacted the FSF and they gave us Wendy. It's been a few years now, and we never really got final closure on the situation, so I'm not sure where it stands at this point. (past copyright infringement does not just vanish if you stop violating it in the present, however).

I have collaborated with Wendy over numerous dozens of emails and personally met her to sit down with the CEO of aforementioned alleged-infringing company in New York, and I can say that she really knows her field. I'm happy that she's doing good things for the EFF, they need someone of her skillset on-staff.

I have nothing but praise for her abilities and her skills. She was a brick wall between our project and the commercial company who tried to threaten us many times with their millions of dollars of investor money to try to silence us.

If Wendy is on your side, it's a good thing. It's where she shines the best.

Does the Free Software Foundation or Sourceforge have any kind of policy or resource to help poor saps like me? And in the end, what does it all mean?

I'm not an expert on such things, but I believe the FSF will often negotiate (or fight) on behalf of software authors when one of their licences is concerned. See this page for details.

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

• Kawa: licensed under the Kawa License, which is an X-11/MIT style license. Kawa is a Scheme/Emacs Lisp environment that runs on Java, in case you were wondering.
• GNU less: the page says it is licensed under a SimplePermissiveNowarranty, but if you download the latest less tarball from ftp.gnu.org, you will find it is GPLd. However, older versions of less were non-copyleft, and they still are, as you can still download them.
• Ncurses, which is distributed under an X11-style license.
• Proto, which is is a tool for finding C and C++ function prototypes (someone please explain to me what that means), in the Public Domain. This one is not downloadable from the GNU ftp, but I guess that, if they list it as a GNU project, it must be.
• Quexo, xquery implementation using Kawa to compile to java bytecode. Under the Kawa license, which means an X11-style license.
• Speex, an audio compression codec for voice, under the Xiph.org license (a modified BSD)

Did the person interviewed for this article actually read the draft?

"This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified Program." (emphasis added) "This License permits you to make and run privately modified versions of the Program, or have others make and run them on your behalf." It is only this permission to make and run privately modified versions that terminates if the licensor sues for infringement. This is a far cry from what the article suggests, which is that the license "to use the open source code" terminates when the licensor brings a patent claim.

I hope the article is a distortion of what this attorney said. If it isn't, then anybody who has hired this lawyer for anything software-related should get another lawyer, pronto.

From doing a quick read, it sounds like there are concerns on how much protection GPLv3 actually provides. Does this mean that developers will continue to release software under the GPLv2 until this gets straightened out.

The GPLv3 doesn't exist yet. It's still being drafted. Any complaints about the GPLv3 are thus actually complaints about a possible, future GPLv3, and can still be addressed.