English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Standard GPL would require that those applications be GPL'd (or compatible licensing), whereas LGPL requires only the library's source to be made available.
Is the use of words like GPL'd common to other acronyms?
Is the meaning of such words understandable from common people?
Yes, I think these are generally understandable to people. Converting nouns to verbs on the fly with no morphological markings or suffixes is quite common in English today.
Another example that came to mind:
Yes, it is generally understood, although it might probably also be spelled GPLed. A non-tech example is "He OD'd last night." (OD = overdose, specifically of drugs.)
Use this only in the appropriate context, though.
"I want it here asap. DHL it."
"We already DHLed it, Sir."
That is fine between the two executives who know they are talking about sending by courier. (Name of a regular courier service being used in a generic sense like it is a word.)
I agree with the other answers, but felt stylebook sources would be good for support.
Multiple style manuals okay using the 'd suffix for acronyms and initialisms where the acronym/initialism is immediately recognizable as a verb, e.g. The Chicago Manual of Style suggests "OD'd" for "overdosed", while the AP Stylebook recommends "OK'd" for "okayed", so if you're communicating with folks who recognize GPL as a verb, then GPL'd would be an endorsed way to do it. For folks who aren't familiar with what "GPL" means as a verb, I'd avoid it, and explain the transitive/"viral" nature of the license.
