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by ValdikSS·12d ago·view on hn ↗
>Unfortunately, someone might instead take it, start making profit out of it, and never giving anything back to me or the community.

>you can do whatever you want with my work except profit.

GPL doesn't prohibit that.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

> If a license does not permit users to make copies and sell them, it is a nonfree license.

1 comments
Technically true.

Practically, to make a substantial profit, what you sell must be more worthy than something you can also download for free. So you must sell an enhanced version of the original software. And that is what the GPL wants you to give back and not keep for yourself.

I sell free software of others as an appliance, as a hardware device. Nobody of original authors complained so far, quite the contrary.

I don't get it when the software author choses the license they don't see suitable in full, only because it's one of a common FOSS licenses, and than wiggle around it. There's nothing wrong with making open-source with exception, or dual licenses, or non-free software.