GNU General Public License, Version 2 with Linux Syscall Note

Also known as GNU General Public License v2.0 only with Linux Syscall Note, GPL-2.0 with Linux syscall note, GPL-2.0-only WITH Linux-syscall-note, GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note, GPLv2 with Linux syscall note.

Commercial use: allowed
Share alike: required
Attribution: required (keep the copyright and license notices)

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Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note

Permissions

Charge distribution fee from the text
Commercial use from the text
Derivative works from the text
Derive from the text
Duties
- Attribution from the text
- Modification notice from the text
- Notice from the text
- Source code from the text
Display from the text
Distribute from the text
Duties
- Attribution from the text
- Notice from the text
- Source code from the text
Excepted combination from the text
Modified works from the text
Modify from the text
Duties
- Attribution from the text
- Modification notice from the text
- Notice from the text
- Source code from the text
Present from the text
Reproduce from the text

Prohibitions

Change license from the text

License-wide duties

Share alike from the text

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

Promote by default rule (adopted)

This license says nothing about Promote, and the graph applies this reading in all jurisdictions it covers: it is not permitted unless the license permits it.

A licence that says nothing about endorsement is read as not allowing it: the licence gives the licensee no right to use the licensor's name or marks in a way that states or implies that the licensor endorses the licensee or its product, while stating truthfully that a work is based on or uses the licensed work is a different act that this rule does not decide. A copyright licence grants rights in the work, and the right to use a name or a trademark is a separate right under trademark law and the protection of names, which a silent copyright licence does not pass on. Combining a licence that is silent about endorsement with one that permits it shows a conflict marked as coming from this rule.

Basis Trademark and name rights are separate from copyright: Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 article 9 lets the proprietor of an EU trade mark prevent all third parties not having his consent from using the sign in the course of trade, and Directive (EU) 2015/2436 article 10, 15 U.S.C. 1114 and 1125(a), section 12 BGB and section 43 ABGB protect marks and names in the same way. The library's evidence is Creative Commons 4.0 section 2(b)(2): Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License. A copyright licence that is silent grants no right to use the licensor's name or marks to suggest endorsement (Worldwide)

Further terms

These are the things the license says about itself beyond the acts it permits, forbids and requires: when it ends, how long there is to put a breach right, which law governs it, and so on. A term that comes from the DALICC vocabulary links to its definition.

Or later version option: No
Reciprocity scope: the kernel, not a user program that uses kernel services by normal system calls
Terminates on breach: Yes

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Accepting warranty or additional liability

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

Additional clauses

NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work". Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it. Also note that the only valid version of the GPL as far as the kernel is concerned is _this_ particular version of the license (ie v2, not v2.2 or v3.x or whatever), unless explicitly otherwise stated. Linus Torvalds

Info

Target asset types: Software
Region / jurisdiction: Worldwide
Validity: Perpetual
Source: https://spdx.org/licenses/Linux-syscall-note.html
Legal code: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
This description is published under: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher: Free Software Foundation
SPDX identifier: GPL-2.0-only WITH Linux-syscall-note on the SPDX license list
Version: 2.0
DALICC identifier: GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note",
  "license-title": "GNU General Public License, Version 2 with Linux Syscall Note",
  "spdx-id": "GPL-2.0-only WITH Linux-syscall-note",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note> .

RDF, JSON-LD

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note"
  }
}

HTML attribution

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note" rel="license">GNU General Public License, Version 2 with Linux Syscall Note</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge

Markdown

[![License: GNU General Public License, Version 2 with Linux Syscall Note](https://dalicc.net/license-library/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note)

HTML

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note/badge.svg" alt="License: GNU General Public License, Version 2 with Linux Syscall Note"></a>

Review

Written from the license text by: Giray Havur
Written on: 2026-09-22
Second review: not yet done
Record changed since this review: yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings: 15 recorded, 13 applied to the record, 0 proposed

The record models GNU General Public License, Version 2 with the exception the SPDX list calls Linux-syscall-note. It copies the model of GPL-2.0-only statement for statement and adds what the exception grants. The note keeps a user program that calls the kernel through normal system calls outside the covered work. The copyleft of the base licence still reaches the kernel, not a user program that uses kernel services by normal system calls, and the exception text is quoted in full in dalicc:additionalClauses.

15 findings

info Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId applied

The file name, the identifier and the local name of the odrl:Set IRI are all GPL-2.0-only-with-Linux-syscall-note. spdx:licenseId carries the SPDX expression "GPL-2.0-only WITH Linux-syscall-note", with one space, an upper-case WITH and one more space, which is how the SPDX list writes a licence combined with an exception.
info Rubric 2 odrl:target applied

One odrl:AssetCollection of dct:type dcmitype:Software, copied from GPL-2.0-only. The exception speaks of code, modules and executables throughout.
major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

Section 1 reads: "You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program." Section 2 adds the right to modify and to distribute the modified work. The record therefore keeps every permission of GPL-2.0-only: reproduce, distribute, modify, derive, display, present, commercial use, derivative works, modified works and charging a distribution fee. The exception adds one more. It reads: "NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work"." That is material the licence carves out of its own condition, so it is modelled as a permission dalicc:exceptedCombination.
major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

The prohibitions of GPL-2.0-only stay as they are. dalicc:ChangeLicense is still prohibited, because the exception narrows the reach of the reciprocity and does not let the covered work itself leave the licence. The note is about the boundary of the covered work rather than about linking. It says that a user program which calls the kernel through normal system calls is "merely considered normal use of the kernel" and is not a derived work.
minor Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

dalicc:promote is prohibited because GPL-2.0-only prohibits it and an exception record keeps every statement of its base. Neither the base text nor the exception has a trademark or endorsement clause, so the prohibition is a library convention here and not text-supported. The review of GPL-2.0-only proposed removing it library-wide.
major Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

The licence-wide cc:ShareAlike duty of GPL-2.0-only stays on the odrl:Set, because the reciprocity of the base licence still covers the whole work. cc:Attribution, cc:Notice and cc:SourceCode stay on distribute, modify and derive, and dalicc:modificationNotice on modify and derive. The note attaches no condition to the carve-out, so the dalicc:exceptedCombination permission carries no duty.
minor Rubric 5 dalicc:reciprocityScope applied

dalicc:reciprocityScope says in words how far the copyleft reaches after the exception: "the kernel, not a user program that uses kernel services by normal system calls". The base record carries no such annotation, because without the exception the reciprocity reaches the whole work.
major Rubric 6 dalicc:additionalClauses applied

The exception text is quoted verbatim as one literal of dalicc:additionalClauses, from https://spdx.org/licenses/Linux-syscall-note.html. Line breaks and runs of spaces were collapsed to single spaces, the way every other clause literal in the library is written; no word was changed, added or dropped. The warranty disclaimer and the limitation of liability are the ones of GPL-2.0-only, quoted verbatim from the base text, because the exception changes neither.
info Rubric 7 cc:jurisdiction applied

The base text and the exception name no legal system, so cc:jurisdiction stays dalicc:worldwide, dalicc:validityType stays dalicc:perpetual and no dalicc:governingLaw is stated. The termination and cure terms of the base licence are untouched by the exception.
info Rubric 7 dalicc:orLaterVersionOption applied

dalicc:orLaterVersionOption stays false, and the note itself says why: "the only valid version of the GPL as far as the kernel is concerned is _this_ particular version of the license (ie v2, not v2.2 or v3.x or whatever), unless explicitly otherwise stated". This is the one record of the set whose flag is supported by the exception text and not only by the base text.
gap Rubric 8 dalicc:exceptedCombination applied

The exception carves the combination out of the condition of the licence, not out of its grant. dalicc:exemptedMaterial says the opposite and is prohibited on OGL-UK-1.0, OGL-UK-2.0 and NLOD-2.0, where it means material the licence never granted. The vocabulary defines dalicc:exceptedCombination for this side of it since 2026-09-23, and the record carries it as a permission.
gap Rubric 8 dalicc:additionalClauses none

The note states the boundary of the covered work rather than granting anything: a user program that uses kernel services by normal system calls "does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work"". The vocabulary has no term for a statement about what the copyright reaches, so the record carries it as an exempted permission and quotes it. Proposed term: dalicc:scopeClarification, an annotation naming material the licensor states is outside the work.
info Rubric 9 record none

The consistency check against dg_default returned no conflicts. The exempted permission is a new action for the checker, it is not prohibited anywhere and the dependency graph holds no relation for it, so it neither triggers nor hides a conflict. The share-alike rule is not triggered, because dalicc:ChangeLicense stays prohibited.
info Rubric 10 dalicc:variantOf applied

The record is the base licence plus the exception, so it repeats GPL-2.0-only statement for statement and adds four things: the dalicc:exceptedCombination permission, the dalicc:reciprocityScope annotation, the exception text in dalicc:additionalClauses and the pair dalicc:variantKind "exception" with dalicc:variantOf dalicclib:GPL-2.0-only. Nothing the base states was removed.
minor Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

dalicc:promote was prohibited and no sentence of this text supports it. The statement was the library's reading of a legal default, that a copyright licence which says nothing about endorsement grants no right to it, and it sat in 519 of 581 records as a house convention. That reading is now an adopted dalicc:DefaultRule of the core dependency graph, which supplies it to every licence that is silent about the action, so a compatibility check reaches the same answer and the record states only what the text states. Removed on 2026-09-23; see section 13 of docs/LICENSE_REVIEW.md.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

The changes since version 1 left endorsement to the default rule of the core dependency graph, recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

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3 changes
- removed prohibition dalicc:promote
  
  Manual edit The endorsement prohibition rested on no sentence of the text; the default rule for endorsement now supplies it.
- changed permission dalicc:chargeDistributionFee
  
  was permission dalicc:chargeDistributionFee
  
  Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee."
- added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>
  
  Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.
Version 1

Created from the license text on 2026-09-22 (GNU copyleft family (GPL, LGPL, AGPL, FDL)).

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Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.