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The Linux operating system is absolutely everywhere.

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Android is based on it, it runs most of the servers you connect to whenever you use the internet,

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and it's even used to control NASA's Mars rover.

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If you don't know much about Linux, you can learn more about it up here,

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but in a nutshell, it's a free, open-source operating system that's been around since 1991.

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But here's the thing, since it's free and open-source, does anybody actually own it?

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Like in the way that Microsoft owns Windows or Apple owns macOS?

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At first glance, you might think, no, nobody does, because it's free,

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and anyone can use, change, or add even to its source code.

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But remember guys, free doesn't mean devoid of ownership.

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Your local park that is free to use for your Quidditch or LARPing meetups is still owned by the city,

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and Linus Media Group still owns this video, even though it's free for you to watch it.

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So who does own Linux? Well, the main creator of the Linux kernel is Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds, hence the name,

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who wanted to make it freely available. Now, although he originally wanted to limit how Linux could be used commercially,

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he actually eventually decided to use software from the GNU project

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to turn Linux into a fully functional operating system rather than just a kernel.

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So Torvalds ended up licensing Linux under the GNU General Public License, or GPL,

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which allows users to modify and distribute the source code.

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However, anyone who distributes Linux has to do so under the same terms,

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which assures that any modifications to the Linux kernel also have to continue to be free.

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However, none of this means that Torvalds himself or any other single entity owns the Linux source code in full.

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Although Torvalds does approve a number of changes himself,

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that doesn't give him the copyright to those changes.

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So if you, yes you, Andrew, contribute code to Linux and it gets approved by the community,

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you actually retain the copyright to that piece of code.

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So you will become one of the thousands of collective owners of Linux.

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But keep in mind that because of the terms of the GPL,

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you can't forbid anyone else from using or even modifying your code in the future.

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And then because so many people own copyright in the different parts of the Linux source code,

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it's hard to imagine that the terms Linux is licensed under will ever change.

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In fact, if Linux Torvalds or anyone else wanted to change the way Linux is distributed,

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every copyright holder would have to agree to it.

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For example, a question was raised recently about Linux moving to the newest version of the GPL, version 3.

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And while Torvalds himself had serious reservations about this due to version 3 containing restrictions

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as to how Linux could be used, even if he were to say, yeah, let's go for it,

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he probably couldn't get permission from every single person that's contributed code to the project.

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Anyway, however, that doesn't mean that the name Linux can be used without any kind of restriction.

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The Linux name is a registered trademark in the United States belonging to

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Linux Torvalds through the Linux Mark Institute, with Torvalds deciding to register the name to keep others from just using it willy-nilly.

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With that said, it's actually free to apply for a license, so you should definitely do that

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if you're using the name Linux in the branding for a software-related service,

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whether you're a software giant like Red Hat or just distributing a small homebrew project for free.

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Fun fact, by the way, apparently, Linus Torvalds had some reservations about naming the project after himself

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because he thought that might seem egotistical.

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I, for one, can't imagine why he considered that to be a problem.

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Thanks for watching, guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos.

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Leave a comment if you have suggestions for a future fast as possible.

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Maybe some question you want answered. And don't forget to subscribe so that earwigs don't crawl into your ears.

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As a kid, I actually thought that's what they did. I thought they crawled into your ear and ate your brain or something.

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I blame my dad. I swear he told me that. He denies it now.