LICENSEWARE
Contribute
Publisher · Open source

Perl

Perl is a general-purpose programming language and interpreter created by Larry Wall and maintained by the Perl community, with the CPAN module archive. Perl 5 is free software that users may take under either the GNU GPL (version 1 or later) or the Artistic License.

Licensing at a Glance

  • Open source

  1. Perl 5 is copyright Larry Wall and others and may be redistributed and modified under either the GNU General Public License version 1 or any later version, or the Artistic License.[1]

  2. Larry Wall's stated interpretation is that no Perl script falls under the GPL unless its author explicitly places it under the GPL.[2]

  3. Object code linked with perl that only adds subroutine and variable definitions does not automatically fall under the GPL and may be sold as proprietary, provided the Perl source is provided or offered.[3]

  4. Perl is open source software licensed under its Artistic License or the GNU General Public License (GPL).[4]

Products

References

  1. Perl Licensing - dev.perl.org · dev.perl.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. Perl Licensing - dev.perl.org · dev.perl.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. Perl Licensing - dev.perl.org · dev.perl.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  4. About Perl - www.perl.org · perl.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
Esc