Code scanning and management vendor Black Duck reports the GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2)
now dipping below 50% share of open source software. While we
already knew that GPLv2 was somewhat in decline from its far
greater share of open source code over the last 5-10 years, it is
useful to know what pool of code we’re talking about. We must
also remember that while GPLv2 may not be as dominant as it once
was and that other licenses, particularly GPLv3, are quickly
gaining share, GPLv2 is still quite relevant to enterprise open
source software, is used in a variety of newer and popular
applications across the enterprise stack and is likely to remain
in the top 10 licenses for a long time.
Regarding GPLv2 and Black Duck’s findings, some folks are rightly
asking what code and how much of it are we considering where
GPLv2 accounts for half or less of the …
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