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Apple made the MIT-licensed zsh the default shell in macOS over the GPL-licensed bash precisely to avoid the GPL. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208050 http

Apple made the MIT-licensed zsh the default shell in macOS over the GPL-licensed bash precisely to avoid the GPL. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208050 https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208050 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20090193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20090193 Apple has historically been hostile to the GPL. Remember when Apple removed the GPLv2-licensed VLC from the App Store in 2011? https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/01/vlc-for-ios-vanishes-2-months-after-eruption-of-gpl-dispute/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/01/vlc-for-ios-vanishes... VLC didn't return to the App Store until the iOS version was dual-licensed under the MPL 30 months later. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/vlc-media-player-returns-to-the-ios-app-store-after-30-month-hiatus/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/vlc-media-player-ret...

chipotle_coyote 7y ago
I don't think what you're posting is inconsistent with the observation the person you're replying to made -- Apple is hostile more specifically to GPL 3, which a lot of companies seem to be (rightly or wrongly). IIRC, a lot of GPL-licensed stuff that came with OS X, like bash, just stopped being updated by Apple when it moved from GPL 2 to 3; moving to zsh lets them keep their default shell up to date while also keeping whichever execs/lawyers have decreed "Thou Shalt Not GPL 3" happy. Also, IIRC, Apple doesn't have a policy of prohibiting GPL-licensed software from being in the App Store, but rather, the FSF's own interpretation of the GPL is that its terms are incompatible with the App Store's terms.