The original GPL was based on a unification of similar licenses used for early versions of GNU Emacs (1985), the GNU Debugger, and the GNU C Compiler. The GPL was written by Richard Stallman in 1989, for use with programs released as part of the GNU project. The 'or any later version' clause is sometimes known as a lifeboat clause since it allows combinations between different versions of GPL-licensed software to maintain compatibility. Software projects licensed with the optional 'or later' clause include the GNU Project, while the Linux kernel, for instance, is licensed under GPLv2 only. To keep the license up to date, the GPL license includes an optional 'any later version' clause, allowing users to choose between the original terms or the terms in new versions as updated by the FSF. In 2007, the third version of the license (GPLv3) was released to address some perceived problems with the second version (GPLv2) which were discovered during the latter's long-time usage. Wheeler argues that the copyleft provided by the GPL was crucial to the success of Linux-based systems, giving the programmers who contributed to the kernel the assurance that their work would benefit the whole world and remain free, rather than being exploited by software companies that would not have to give anything back to the community. Prominent free software programs licensed under the GPL include the Linux kernel and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). Historically, the GPL license family has been one of the most popular software licenses in the free and open-source software (FOSS) domain. It is more restrictive than the Lesser General Public License and even further distinct from the more widely used permissive software licenses BSD, MIT, and Apache. These GPL series are all copyleft licenses, which means that any derivative work must be distributed under the same or equivalent license terms. The license grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the Free Software Definition. The license was the first copyleft for general use and was originally written by Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), for the GNU Project. The GNU General Public License ( GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses or copyleft that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software.

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