[imglorp]

Curious, which license can't you use at work for a simple shell tool? Considering you're not linking against it, even GPL3 should be okay, right?

[twinkjock]

Most big employers consider GPL unusable and will only allow Apache, MIT, BSD, and other permissive patent-free licenses.

[ta8903]

So they don't let you use grep? Sounds like hell.

[imglorp]

Yeah, caution with GPL is understandable if you're shipping it or making it a part of a hosted service. But internal use is not the intention of GPL, so a blanket ban like that would put that shop at a disadvantage, like the other comment said, that basically rules out all kinds of things.