Misconceptions about the GPL

• "But libFoo.so is part of the operating system"
  • Mostly, we see this with OpenSSL and proprietary RTOSs.

However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

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