Understanding copyleft

Copyleft is a legal way to use copyright law to maximize rights and express freedom. However, it impacts our products. We must meet all obligations of open source and free software licenses.

When building a Linux distribution, at least two projects are used: the Linux kernel and a compiler. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is still the most commonly used compiler. The Linux kernel uses the General Public License (GPL) v2 license, and the GCC uses the GPLv2, GPLv2.1, and GPLv3 licenses, depending on the project used.

However, a Linux-based system can include virtually all projects available worldwide, in addition to all applications made by the company for its product. So how do we know the number of projects and licenses included, and how do we fulfill copyleft compliance requirements?

Note

This chapter describes how the Yocto Project can help you in this task but be aware that you must know exactly what you need to provide and the possible license...