The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL)

The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and derivatives to be available under the same license. Copies may also be sold commercially, but, if produced in larger quantities (greater than 100), the original document or source code must be made available to the work’s recipient.

The GFDL was designed for manuals, textbooks, other reference and instructional materials, and documentation which often accompanies GNU software. However, it can be used for any text-based work, regardless of subject matter. For example, the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia uses the GFDL (coupled with the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License) for all of its text.

(“Wikipedia: GNU General Public License ” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License)


Text is modified and available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.

Felix Arndt “The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL)” 2015; https://mrimagma.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/the-gnu-free-documentation-license-gnu-fdl-or-simply-gfdl/

To share-alike and attribute please use the 2 preceding sentences. Feel free to copy & paste.