this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html
Am I missing something, ~~gnu~~ gpl is a licence, Foss a philosophy, is ~~gnu~~ gpl licence Foss? And if so why are so many people saying charging for software isn't Foss when Richard stalman himself makes the point "This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of “free speech,” not “free beer.”"
Sorry if I got this wrong I am generally confused by this hole thing.
GNU is not a license, it's a project, one that practically spearheaded the whole FOSS movement back in the 80s. The programs that were part of the GNU project were licenced under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which was originally written by Richard Stallman, and evolved over time to its current version, GPLv3 (now backed by the Free Software Foundation). So the "GPL" is the actual license that can be applied to any program, should the developer choose to do so (so it's not limited just to the GNU project).
All GPL licenced programs are considered to be FOSS. However, FOSS can also imply other licenses such as MIT, LGPL, Apache etc. Most of them are kinda similar, but the way but differ slightly on how permissive/restrictive it is when it comes to modifications and derivatives.
As you said, it's not about the price at all, the "free" means freedom. Specifically, the GPL explicitly states that you may charge money for the software. Other free software licences also generally state something similar.
The confusion regarding selling is best explained by the FSF:
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html
Also, just to be clear, opensource =/= FOSS. Opensource just means that the source code is available, FOSS however implies that you're free to modify and redistribute the program (+ some other freedoms/restrictions as per the specific license used).
Incorrect. "Open Source" also means that you are free to modify and redistribute the software.
If the source code is merely available but not free to modify and/or redistribute, then it is called source-available software.