Think of GPL as a "virus"? Please stop defaming GPL

Arrangement | Phoebe Coordinating editor | Du min
Produce | CSDN（ID：CSDNnews）

GPL Is one of the most famous free software license agreements , In today's upsurge of open source popularity , There is an endless stream of discussion about it . It's just 5 month 13 Japan , Software Freedom Protection Association （SFC） On a mandatory basis Vizio The announcement is based on GPLv2 Of SmartCast TV In the struggle of software source code , Won the victory . The latest judgment indicates that ,GPL The agreement can be used as a free software license , At the same time, it also has contractual effect , The result this time will be right GPL The development of has brought about important changes .

however , In the process of using open source , According to the CSDN Abreast of the times 《2021-2022 China developer survey 》 According to the report , Nearly 30% of developers still don't know about the open source protocol , And only 40% Developers know MIT、GPL And Apache The difference between open source protocols . meanwhile , We also found that many developers even regard one of the open source protocols GPL by “ cancer ”, Think it's very “ Infectious ”.

Picture source 《2021-2022 China developer survey 》

In order to find out which link has a problem , And why the industry has such a view , from CSDN An open source live broadcast program built with great efforts 《 Open source Roundtable 》 Start a scene “ Please stop stigmatizing GPL！” The theme of , Invited to the OSCAR Open source co reading sponsor 、LF APAC Lijiansheng, chairman of the open source evangelist team ,《 Cathedral and market 》 Translator Wei Jianfan , Sun Zhenhua, senior intellectual property lawyer , And specially invited interactive experts 、CSDN Senior bloggers “ Aunt ”（CSDN ID） Get together , Members of the open source way 、 Under the auspices of open source enthusiast Yu Zhiqiang , Let's analyze it together GPL The past and this life 、 Evolution and development status of software freedom , And for GPL justify ！

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GPL Why has it become “ Infectious ” Permission of ？

Yu Zhiqiang ： As the initiator of the theme of this issue , First of all, please share with us why we should put forward “ Please stop stigmatizing GPL！” This topic ？

Li Jiansheng ： I didn't pay so much attention to these License. however , When I participated in activities organized by several foundations this year , And during the discussion with some participants , I find that people often say inexplicably GPL Yes “ Infectious ”. Although I always kindly remind each other that it should be translated into “ Reciprocity ”, But because of GPL Its own characteristics and driven by some misunderstandings , Such views are often misrepresented , Many people think so . From a personal point of view , As a group that supports open source , We shouldn't do this , So I hope to take this opportunity to call for “GPL Decontamination Nominalization ”, In order to correct the audio-visual .

Yu Zhiqiang ： What do you think of it as “GPL Remove stigma ” This matter ？

“ Aunt ”： “ stigma ” Is a definition of malice . Since there is such a problem in the industry ” malice “, that , It must be profitable . Or there's traffic , Or it's related to your own interests , So try to appeal ” Stop stigmatizing “ There may be no result . We should think about how we can make people realize GPL“ Reciprocity ” The essence of .

First , Today, we need to understand and solve two key problems ： First of all , Why should they stigmatize ？ second , Which point are they aiming at “ slander ”？

In response to this misinterpretation , From the above two dimensions, we should find ways to unify in various occasions “ Reciprocity ” The word , Instead of always saying GPL have ” Infectious “.

Wei Jianwu ： I also think about this problem through reverse thinking , Perhaps there is no need to correct people's use of a word , Because you can't really correct this statement .

Maybe they can let them use , It's just an explanation “ Infect ” What does it mean , because ” Infect “ It's not necessarily a bad thing , It can also be a good thing , Many times it can be understood as a neutral word . Even if it was originally a negative word , After a certain period of transformation ,GPL It can also be regarded as a neutral or positive word .

Actually , The habit of how people use a word cannot be changed , Just explain its true meaning to you .

Yu Zhiqiang ： When did we find the word , Why did you give GPL One “ Infectious ” The definition of ？

Sun Zhenhua ： in the light of GPL Definition of license , If from a legal point of view , To understand its rights 、 Obligations and responsibilities ; From a historical point of view , Need to know GPL What are the driving forces of free software , What's more, whether there is ambiguity in the semantics it expresses .

Of course , If we use one word to describe ”GPL agreement “, I personally think “ Infectious ” This word is definitely not appropriate . Trace the roots ,“ Infectious ” The term was originally proposed by some proprietary manufacturers , such as 20 Years ago, Microsoft was worried about being based on GPL The developed system and some tools will threaten its ecology , So I used it “ Infectious ” The word , obviously , This word was a negative word at that time .

After several years of development , Lawyers in Europe and America are no longer using “ Infectious ” This word is used to define copyleft perhaps GPL agreement . From a community perspective , More often, I think it is a kind of “ Reciprocity ”. From the perspective of an enterprise , Will think it has “ Protection ” perhaps “ restrictive ”. such , Company programmers see “ Protection ” and “ restrictive ” When these two words , May understand their duty of care .

“ Aunt ”： Do you remember Web2.0 Time ,“ Viral marketing ” It is an advanced network marketing strategy with low cost and high effect , At that time, all the major Internet manufacturers tried their best to use this method .“ Viral Game Mechanics ” This is a very advanced thing in network marketing , When the industry chose this word, it had a strong emotional color , In order to be impressive , However, in the process of word of mouth , The word has gradually become stigmatized .

stay 30 Today, years later , Especially in the context of the epidemic , The global cultural background and context have changed a lot , If you use this word again, it will bring more negative feelings , No one could have thought of this when translating .

Daily reading 、 Use GPL The real feeling of

Yu Zhiqiang ： In the reading GPLv2 And GPLv3 When permitted , How do you feel ？

Wei Jianwu ： In my submission GPL It's Stallman （ The father of free software ） A propaganda of the spirit of free software . It is not simply a statement of a license , Behind it is stoeman's intention .

GPL It's hard to read , It takes some patience and some English reading ability to understand . meanwhile , You also need to understand some of the events behind the software world , For example, how to ensure the freedom of software in hardware . therefore , adopt GPL, It can be seen that stoeman's concept of software freedom is very high .

I had an article before , One reader wrote a comment at the bottom, which was to the point , He said that many license agreements protect the freedom of programmers . however GPL It protects the freedom of software , It would rather restrict programmers , Also make sure the code is free , Always open source .GPL Once open source goes out , It will always be an open source free software . This is still very interesting .

GPL Put freedom “ Infect ” 了 ,“ Infect ” The idea of freedom ,“ Infect ” The mechanism of freedom , I think it's good . Or that sentence , Don't resist “ Infect ” The word . Personally , I don't think so. " Infect " It's a negative word , It doesn't give me any negative feelings . When you acknowledge this agreement from your heart , Even if it is “ Infect ” Of , You also recognize .

Sun Zhenhua ： I heard that GPL In fact, it is written by programmers and lawyers . I was reading at first GPL when , I find it difficult to understand both technical terms and legal terms .

If you refine a word to summarize GPL Characteristics of , that “ to open up ”、“ share ”、“ Reciprocity ”、“ win-win ” And so on GPL The positioning of . among ,“ Reciprocity ” From the perspective of community, it is a good word .

How to GPL“ In order to correct the audio-visual ”？

Yu Zhiqiang ： When it comes to why you need to give GPL When de stigmatizing , Let me share my knowledge first .

These two years COVID-19 Pandemic , It also reminds everyone of 100 Years ago “ Spanish flu ”, In fact, the flu at that time had nothing to do with Spain , But because the name was used at that time , When I mention today , Most people think it's popular from Spain , So I think it is very necessary to give GPL“ Decontamination Nominalization ”, Otherwise, it may be more difficult to correct after being circulated for a long time .

At work , As a practitioner of open source , I will participate in some activities of standardization organizations , It also involves the definition of some dimensions of open source . Many people will mention something similar to “ We should guard against open source risks ”、“GPL It's contagious ” Words like that , This makes me deeply feel that we are not embracing open source , But to guard against it .

Everyone's understanding of open source has different stages . At different stages , Understanding is different . There are only two things that many people know about open source ：

The first point is that you can use it for free ;

The second point is to be careful of being infectious , It's better to License All delete .

This is a very terrible cognition , Here it is , I also sincerely hope that GPL can “ Decontamination Nominalization ”.

Li Jiansheng ： I mentioned at the beginning , Many people call GPL Yes. “ Infectious ” Of , In fact, it is demeaning GPL Some of its own principles . Jianghu rumors are only superficial , It reflects the stereotype that people have when defining something through noun symbols .

once “ Stigmatization ” Then you will encounter many problems , Such as GPL Infringement . You have used it. GPL Code for , Then I didn't abide by its rules , It meant infringement . Once put GPL After stigmatization , Infringement will not be established , It is equivalent to legitimizing the infringement .

Yu Zhiqiang ：GPL What on earth has been stigmatized by people ？

Wei Jianwu ： I think the key is whether this person approves GPL. If he thinks GPL very good , Or be neutral , Even with “ Infect ” The word , But his essence is that GPL Good. , That's not a stigma . And think from the bottom of my heart GPL Bad people , Even if he doesn't have to “ Infect ” The word , It's about using “ Reciprocity ” To describe it , That's also stigmatization .

The key depends on his overall attitude towards this matter , It's not about which word he uses . Only when you think GPL Bad times , This is called stigma .

“ Aunt ”： Under what circumstances would you think GPL Or some open source protocol is not good , Maybe there are two kinds of people , One is that insiders deliberately stigmatize , One is that the onlookers outside the industry inadvertently stigmatize , And stick to it .

If we can analyze the motives of these two types of people and eliminate them , It is very easy to get rid of the stigma .

Wei Jianwu ： The two values of supporting and opposing open source have always existed .

One side , Many people in the business scene don't understand why we should open the source code , They want to use the source code as a trade secret to make money . They think that , If there is no mechanism to make money , There is no asset privatization mechanism , There will be no more people to innovate , Thus losing the power of innovation , This is detrimental to social progress . So he opposed these things from his heart .

On the other hand , For those who love open source , Open source is beneficial to social progress .

Actually , You can think about which way is more conducive to social progress .

GPL And “ The road to wealth ” The opposite ？

Yu Zhiqiang ： That's a good question , Who is more beneficial to social progress than closed source ？

Sun Zhenhua ： I remember the avant-garde sir（ Wei Jianwu ） There should have been an assertion ,“ Eventually, the software will be open source ”. From this point of view , He may think that open source will be more conducive to social progress .

But there may be a problem with open source ： Whether it's an individual or a company , Those who devote their time and energy will always get some benefits . Personal words , Put aside the point of making profits from software , Maybe you can get some inspiration . But overall , Still need some closed source or “ Differentiated services ” To ensure profitability , Otherwise, it is difficult to maintain the continuous development of open source software only by personal interests , The same is true from a company perspective . So I think there is still some degree of combination , In order to promote the better development of this matter .

Yu Zhiqiang ：GPL Is business unfriendly ？

Wei Jianwu ： Closed source is naturally conducive to business , Open source can be combined with business , But open source is inherently bad for making money , here , We can put “ business ” Replace the word with “ To make money ”. Closing the source is beneficial to making money , Open source is not conducive to making money , Although there are some ways to make money , But it must be less than making money from closed sources .

Li Jiansheng ： Actually, reading GPL when , The first two tell you how to commercialize . therefore , In fact, there is no need to argue about business , It's about fighting for open source and closed source .

Closing the source is a very mandatory way , If you use closed source software , You can't distribute it to your friends 、 partner , You can't see what the source code looks like . It is better than GPL bullying , Through a monopoly 、 The way of power binds people .

GPL It's actually a kind and friendly business model , It can help you make money , Just no license fee . Now it can be commercialized in open source , For example, now all kinds of technologies combined with Cloud Computing SaaS Service etc. , It can realize a kind and friendly commercialization mode .

Above is 4 An open source guest is 《 Open source Roundtable 》 The share of , They are for GPL I believe that our deep insight can bring us new thinking , Also to promote GPL stay “ justify ” A small step forward on the road .

future , I hope more people can face it from a more objective perspective GPL . It is easy to spread , But it doesn't like COVID-19 It's like a nightmare , We should use the right attitude , Use in the right way GPL To promote social progress and development .