A: Linus has placed the Linux kernel under the GNU General Public License, which basically means that you may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but you may not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and you must make the source code available.

Is Linux licensed?

Linux and open source

Linux is a free, open source operating system, released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Anyone can run, study, modify, and redistribute the source code, or even sell copies of their modified code, as long as they do so under the same license.

Is Linux free for commercial use?

4 Answers. Yes it is free (as in no cost) and free (as in open source), but you can purchase support if you need it from Canonical. You can find out more about the philosophy and more about why it is free. It is free to use as a business and free to develop products on.