TL;DR* Here's what the license entails:
1. Anyone can copy, modify and distribute this software.
2. You have to include the license and copyright notice with each and every distribution.
3. You can use this software privately.
4. You can use this software for commercial purposes.
5. If you dare build your business solely from this code, you risk open-sourcing the whole code base.
6. If you modify it, you have to indicate changes made to the code.
7. Any modifications of this code base MUST be distributed with the same license, GPLv3.
8. This software is provided without warranty.
9. The software author or license can not be held liable for any damages inflicted by the software.
More information on about the LICENSE can be found here
Can a GNU GPL legal expert (JD in IP please) explain exactly what the following quote from the GPL means in the context of a proprietary work that contains GNU GPL code?
Specifically, does GPL compliance require the open-sourcing in totality of any proprietary source code base that touches GPL code?
The FSF dances around this, goes into moralizing and PR, and does not provide a straight answer.
If the GNU GPL requires open sourcing in totality of any source code base that touches GPL code, how is this enforced other than by hijacking copyright to the entire source code base, and placing it under the GPL?
How is this even legal?
I have yet to find a coherent explanation of this portion of the GPL license anywhere. Just lots of opinions.
' To "modify" a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the
work in a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the
making of an exact copy. The resulting work is called a "modified
version" of the earlier work or a work "based on" the earlier work. '
--GNU General Public License Version 3, 29 June 2007 '
Thank you in advance.