Open source GPL to get a makeover

The GPL is a licence commonly used for many free software projects, including the Linux operating system kernel. The GPL licenses software free of cost but requires any re-distributor to provide the full source code and a copy of the full licence text.

It was written by Richard M Stallman, founder of the GNU Project – which developed a free UNIX-like operating system called GNU. Stallman's site explains that GNU, pronounced "guh-noo," is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix."

Variants of the GNU operating system which use the Linux kernel are now widely used. These systems are usually referred to as Linux systems; but Stallman points out that they are more accurately called GNU/Linux systems.

Stallman also founded the Free Software Foundation – a US non-profit group dedicated to the promotion of free software.

The current version of the GPL is now 14 years old and, according to the Free Software Foundation Europe, while it has become central to the activities and operation of a large number of companies and governments around the world, it needs updating.

The Free Software Foundation has therefore started a project to bring together organisations, software developers and software users from around the world, over the course of 2006, to update the licence in as consensual a way as possible.

The process will be overseen by the Free Software Foundation, supported by its legal counsel the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC). European activities will be coordinated by the FSFE.

"With the release of GPLv3, we aim to increase the international reach of the Free Software movement,” said Peter Brown, Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation. “To develop this new licence, we will be contacting communities across the globe to ensure their participation in the update of one of the most important social documents of our time."

The project will be supported by a grant of €150,000 from Dutch open-source group Stichting Nlnet.