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Comment by nothrabannosir

5 months ago

The GPL exists for the benefit of end users, not developers. It being a chore for developers who want to deny their users the software freedoms is a feature, not a bug.

9 comments

nothrabannosir

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red_admiral  5 months ago

How does the GPL help a user who doesn't write code themselves?

  • pocksuppet  5 months ago

    They have the right to use the code, and they have the right to use improvements that someone else made, and they have the right to get someone to make improvements for them.

    • mgulick  5 months ago

      They also have the guarantee that the code licensed under the GPL, and all future enhancements to it, will remain free software. The same is not true of the MIT license's weak-copyleft.

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  • nothrabannosir  5 months ago

    By allowing them to benefit from the work of others who do. Directly or indirectly.

    I’m not good at car maintenance but I would benefit from an environment where schematics are open and cars are easy to maintain by everyone: there would be more knowledge around it, more garages for me to choose from, etc.

    • red_admiral  5 months ago

      Isn't the legal situation the opposite here? Car manufacturers don't release schematics because they believe in "free as in freedom". In fact any interfaces you as an end-user or an independent garage can use and schematics that are released such as the protocol for the diagnostic port, are open primarily because govermnents made laws saying so.

      I'm most familiar with the "right to repair" situation with John Deere, which occasionally pops up on HN. The spirit of someone who releases something under GPL seems the opposite of that?

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