General Public Virus
 n.

    Pejorative name for some versions of the GNU project copyleft or
    General Public License (GPL), which requires that any tools or apps
    incorporating copylefted code must be source-distributed on the same
    anti-proprietary terms as GNU stuff. Thus it is alleged that the copyleft
    ?infects? software generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other
    software that reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's
    official position is that copyright law limits the scope of the GPL to ?
    programs textually incorporating significant amounts of GNU code?, and that
    the ?infection? is not passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source
    is transmitted. Nevertheless, widespread suspicion that the copyleft
    language is ?boobytrapped? has caused many developers to avoid using GNU
    tools and the GPL. Changes in the language of the version 2.0 GPL did not
    eliminate this problem.

General Public Virus
GPV

    A pejorative name for some versions of the
   GNU project copyleft or General Public License (GPL),
   which requires that any tools or application programs
   incorporating copylefted code must be source-distributed on
   the same terms as GNU code.  Thus it is alleged that the
   copyleft "infects" software generated with GNU tools, which
   may in turn infect other software that reuses any of its code.

   Copyright law limits the scope of the GPL to "programs
   textually incorporating significant amounts of GNU code" so
   GPL is only passed on if actual GNU source is transmitted.
   This used to be the case with the Bison parser skeleton
   until its licence was fixed.

   <http://org.gnu.de/manual/bison/html_chapter/bison_2.html#SEC2>.

   [Jargon File]

   (1999-07-14)