[khedoros]

The GPL is an amazing license to prevent devs from profiting off others' work without also providing access to their own. Some might call that a "gag" because they're prevented from using the code without opening their own code as well, so it's closed to them for all practical purposes.

Is that the kind of gag that you're talking about, or did you mean something different?

[CaptainZapp]

Reminds me of a /. sig, with which I agreed very much (paraphrased):

  If you don't like my software licensed under the GPL write your own damn software.

[the_mitsuhiko]

> Is that the kind of gag that you're talking about, or did you mean something different?

I meant that the GPL as a license can be used to gag others while keeping a positive image as a person yourself. There are many licenses that can be used like this (the CDDL in particular was used for that purpose). That in itself has nothing to do with the GPL, more that you as a copyright holder have the ability to do things that are not available for others.

[cyphar]

I don't understand what you mean by "gag" and "positive image".

The GPL is a very good license, because it has one benefit that almost all other licenses don't: it restricts use of your code to free software. If you care about software freedom, or want to live in a world where proprietary software is a thing of the past, then that should be reason enough to use it. Positive image is not a clause in the GPL, so I really don't know what you mean.