The Linux Kernel is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only (GPL-2.0), as provided in LICENSES/preferred/GPL-2.0, with an explicit syscall exception described in LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note, as described in the COPYING file.

What is the license for Linux?

Q: How Is Linux Licensed? 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 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.