GPL or General Public License, also referred to as GNU GPL, is the most widely used free software license. It was developed by Richard Stallman of Free Software Foundation for GNU Project. GPL permits software to be freely used, and redistributed by any individual. WordPress is also available under the GPL license, and hence WordPress is an open source software that can be used, and extended by anyone.
WordPress project regards GPL license as its bill of rights in philosophical terms. It gives the fundamental basic values which the project has faith in.
- Anyone can download and run the software
- Anyone can Promot it
- Anyone can redistribute free copies of the software
- Anyone can distribute modified versions of the software
- Anyone can use unlimited website (domain) and till lifetime.
Any software licensed under the terms of GPL, is deemed to be “free software”. That is, you have the freedom to:
In contrast, closed-source licences such as End User Licence Agreements (“EULA”) give users a non-exclusive licence to use one copy of the software preventing them from changing or distributing it