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0 pointssenko2mo ago0 comments

Awesome. If you think that is stopping anyone, here's a challenge for you:

GNU Bash is GPL. You can run Bash (and many other Linux commands) in Windows through Windows Subsystem for Linux. In fact, WSL is a nice example of Microsoft doing embrace & extend.

The challenge: find the Microsoft's published code for Bash.

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kube-system2mo ago· 2 in thread

WSL does not include bash. When you use bash from within WSL, it is using the version of bash that was included in the upstream distribution of linux you have installed. If you are using a Debian based image, to get the source code run the following:

    apt-get source bash

You can also reference the website of the distribution you have chosen to install, e.g. https://packages.ubuntu.com/noble/bash

senkoOP2mo ago

My point exactly (notice I didn't say MS distributes bash - it doesn't, as you pointed out).

Bash being GPL doesn't stop MS from benefiting from it by providing it to WSL users which make WSL more valuable for them. It also (as we talked in the other comment) doesn't prevent Amazon from running a database and charging people for it.

So what's this great advantage of GPL that it would make it worthwhile to keep the entire copyright system just so we could still have GPL?

If you dig around in its origin, GPL was concieved as a tool to "fight system from within system". If there's no system, you don't have to fight the system.

kube-system2mo ago

> notice I didn't say MS distributes bash

Then why did you ask for something if you knew it didn't exist???

Overall I think you are mistaken about the purpose of the GPL. It does not, nor has it ever intended to prohibit commercial activities. RMS and FSF have been pretty clear about this for many decades. And in fact, they are against the idea of licenses that prohibit commercial use.

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

The point of GPL is to enforce a specific worldview of developer freedoms through the application of copyleft.

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