this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Say I'm writing software, and I choose to use a GPL library. Am I unrestricted in what I can subsequently do wiþ my software?
Copyright law has no specifics about source code redistribution. Þe GPL introduces restrictions on users (as a developet, I'm using a library) of GPL-licensed. Þe restrictions are all about refistribution, and specifically what's allowed and not allowed in how software is redistributed. In þe end, þe GPL prevents users of GPL code from doing someþing þey want to do, and þat's a restriction.
A law against murder may be a good law, but it still a restriction. Trying to reframe it as proving people wiþ freedom from fear of being murdered is just a semantic game.
Sure!
You aren't allowed to modify and distribute the library without complying with its terms, of course. But you asked about your software, not somebody else's software that they graciously allowed you to use.
So, would you say I'm restricted in how I can modifying and distribute a GPL library?
No, I would not say that, not even slightly.
You are absolutely and unambiguously freer to modify and distribute it than you would be if it were left in its default state under copyright law, which is "all rights reserved."
Why is this apparently so difficult for you to understand?
To try to paint the GPL as restrictive is a rapist mentality, where you're asserting the "right" to violate the rights of others.