All Questions
Tagged with license-change or relicensing
178 questions
3
votes
1
answer
226
views
Project and Contributions use different license - how to fork
I have created a fork of a project that is releases under GPLv3 (As per LICENSE-file, GitHub and README).
However, contributions that are from the community are licensed under MIT.
Now since I want to ...
- 39
3
votes
1
answer
403
views
Distribute binaries of GNU GPL licensed project without source as copyright holder
I don't quite understand what I, the copyright holder of a project, am permitted to do according to the license I have given my project. I want the source code for most versions of the project to be ...
3
votes
1
answer
379
views
Changing the open source license of a forked project (EUPL to GPL)
I believe context is important, so here is a little story.
Let's imagine (all characters and events in this story - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional) that Alice has developed ...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
72
views
How can I anticipate a smooth transition to CC BY 5.0?
Let's say I create a CC BY 4.0 work today, and others contribute to it under the same license. Some individual elements will have multiple authors, some will have single authors. Some might include CC ...
- 2,080
3
votes
1
answer
109
views
How would it be possible to distribute a GPL program with an Apache program?
A friend and I are making a program licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, and we would like to pull in code from one of his old projects licensed under the GPL 3.0 license, but I don't see a way to. ...
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
114
views
How can I add a license to an existing group project?
For a university course I have developed a software application in a group of 12 students. So far we have been developing without a license (in a private repository), but now that the course is over ...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
233
views
Cloud and AGPL question
If a SaaS product is created using the code from a GPL project and is fully maintained by that company, what would happen if that GPL project has its license updated from GPL to AGPL?
Does the AGPL ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
98
views
Can I license a project that I have built on if it already has a license?
Scenario
I am building off of a project that was released under the Creative Commons BY license. Now that my project is done, I want to release my version of the product under my own license.
...
- 5,920
3
votes
1
answer
684
views
When Bootstrap relicensed from Apache 2.0 to MIT back in 2014, could they have chosen MPL-2.0 to solve the issue they ran into?
It seems like the issue they ran into that triggered this is that Apache 2.0 was considered incompatible with GPLv2 which was hindering adoption, based on this github issue: https://github.com/twbs/...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
958
views
MIT license modify package and names
I have downloaded code that is under the MIT license, and will modify parts of the code, as well as rename classes, namespaces and files, and I plan to relicense the code under one or all of the ...
- 33
3
votes
2
answers
90
views
Merging bug fixes from a project with a different license
Recently I discovered my project of mine (call it A), was cloned by another project (call it M) to create a port for a different platform.
"A" was originally licensed as MIT, but has since been ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
99
views
License file organization when moving from one permissive license to another?
I have a project that is currently licensed under the BSD 3-clause license, and I would prefer, going forward, to switch to the Apache 2.0 license. I plan on contacting the original contributors to ...
- 131
3
votes
2
answers
232
views
Is it possible to move from BSD-2-Clause-Views to BSD-2-Clause without contacting previous contributors
A project I'm maintaining is currently licensed under BSD-2-Clause-Views. I want to change it to the more widely used BSD-2-Clause.
https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause-Views.html
https://spdx.org/...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
356
views
Does the EPL 2.0 allow recipients to use code under the terms of any later version of the license?
Does the Eclipse Public License 2.0 (EPL 2.0) allow recipients of code licensed under the EPL 2.0 to use the code under the terms of a newer version of the EPL? For example, when the Eclipse Software ...
- 743
3
votes
1
answer
557
views
What must you include in a derived work of an MIT project?
I am very confused about how the MIT license works in detail. In layman's terms, I understand the following:
If you distribute copies of MIT source, then you must include the license, and the rights ...
- 366
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Relicensing from Apache-2.0 to Apache-or-MIT
I'd like to relicense one of my projects from Apache 2.0 to Apache-or-MIT dual license for consistency with the outer community (Rust — see here), and to allow GPLv2 compatibility, which I was ...
- 453
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Can I change the copyright license, with this text in the CLA?
If I include this in the Contributor License Agreement (CLA) for an open source project I'm doing:
(the following is from Apache's individual CLA)
Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms ...
- 139
3
votes
1
answer
665
views
Using OpenSSL in Visual Studio project
I have created a project for an application written in c++ that uses OpenSSL to implement encryption algorithms. I posted the project on GitHub, it is currently a private repo. There is an Apache 2.0 ...
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3
votes
1
answer
690
views
Apache 2.0 License redistribute with package/class name change
I have been modifying an open source Apache 2.0 licensed project and now I want to re-distribute the code under the same license but under MY SET OF REPOS as the original company isn't wanting my ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
365
views
When using a dependency with an Apache license but has sub-dependencies under GPL, do I need to open source my own code?
When using a dependency with an Apache license but has sub-dependencies under GPL, do I need to open source my own code?
Based on my own research, it appears I would have to abide by the full line of ...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
196
views
Can I change a LPPL licensed LaTeX file (template) license?
I got this .tex file. I need to edit it so it becomes my thesis.
According to the LPPL license, I need to change its name, and state from what name I am renaming. But what do I do about this part?
%...
- 295
3
votes
0
answers
26
views
If an MIT licensed repo relicenses to GPL3, is my derived project impacted in any way? [duplicate]
A year ago I participated in a group project to develop a small game for a class. My work involved level generation, and I later reused the code I wrote for the group project in a separate personal ...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Using MIT/Apache License 2.0 project in a SaaS product, Limitations from its dependencies
I have a specific question with respect to using a project which is licensed under MIT/Apache 2.0 in a SAAS product (proprietary). The open source project have multiple dependencies, if any of the ...
- 33
2
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is it legal to fork "gpl 2 or later" software and make "gpl 2 only" changes
I've found interesting open source project (mostly dead now) and I would like to fork it, fix some bugs and use it. The project is licensed under "gpl 2 or later", however I'm not big fan of "gpl 3", ...
- 221
2
votes
1
answer
239
views
How much changes are required for the "editor" of an open source software to become the new owner?
I think I read somewhere that if you modify the source of a software enough, you become the owner ("author") of that source.
First I'd like to make sure that this is correct. If not, then the point ...
- 218
2
votes
2
answers
295
views
Relicensing from GPLv3 to GPLv2
I have an open source project on GitHub released under GPL3. I want to re-license it under GPL2. 99.9% of the program is written by me, only few lines of code is written by other people.
Can I re-...
- 235
2
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does the Python Software Foundation License permit relicensing to the GPL?
Does the Python Software Foundation License permit relicensing to the GNU GPLv3 (or v2)?
- 223
2
votes
1
answer
241
views
Does modifying build files (not source code) constitute a derivative work?
I am currently developing a library that uses libdwarf (licensed as LGPL 2.1). Suppose I modify the CMake files to get it to build with a different MSVCRT. What do I need to release and am I required ...
- 123
2
votes
2
answers
110
views
Relicense a GPL 3 project which has other contributors
I am the author of an open-source program. I am the primary author, and the repository on github is owned by me. There are however, ~3 other individuals who have made a few dozen commits into the ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
109
views
Relicensing a MIT licensed project to prevent damaging code changes
I have found a piece of software which I have grown so fond of that I wish to improve it.
However, since the software is an MIT licensed project I could fear that the change I would like might not be ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
190
views
Can contributions be licensed under different licence instead of using CLA's?
I sometimes see open source projects that want to switch their licenses to a more permissive one. If original author of a project or community around it want to switch license then they must ask all ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
518
views
Can a copyright owner grant additional permission for another project to use under a different license?
Can a copyright holder of a GPL licensed project grant permission to allow another project to use it under the terms of a different license?
The GNU/GPL is a copyleft license, which means that ...
- 131
2
votes
1
answer
507
views
Is a repo with just a COPYING file GPL-X-only or GPL-X-or-later?
It is a common convention to include the full license text in a file named COPYING (or LICENSE) in the root folder of a repo. Sometimes, the developer:
does nothing more (no copyright byline in the ...
- 2,080
2
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Can the license of a work with open source license be revoked? [duplicate]
Say I have a work released under a FOSS license, can I revoke this FOSS license and release the work under some proprietary license?
If yes, what happens to copies of work already under circulation ...
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
144
views
Can I redistribute to public domain a contribution I made to an MPL 2.0 licensed project?
I made a contribution to an MPL 2.0-licensed project a while ago. I am not the maintainer of this project, I don't own it and I'm not affiliated to it in any way (apart from this specific benevolent ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
123
views
Can a copy-left licensed software mutate to a permissive one? Can a permissive licence mutate to a copy-left one?
I am a bit lost with license compatibility and re-licensing.
See this example:
Author Alice is author and holds copyright of software under GPL3. This software supports plugins.
Author Bob authors a ...
- 319
2
votes
2
answers
213
views
Can code licensed under AGPL also be (re)licensed under LGPL by its contributor?
I have a puzzling question:
Somebody contributed to a AGPL licensed project (he is not the owner). Now this code could also be applied to a different project licensed under LGPL. Could the author of ...
- 347
2
votes
1
answer
463
views
Transpiled Source-Code License & Copyright Holder
Can Transpiled Output Source-Code Have Different License And Different Copyright Holder Than Input Source-Code ?
Prj-A──>─┬─>Prj-TP──>────┬─>Prj-┐
(Apache) │(Python-to-C++)│ TP │
...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
122
views
What does LGPL point 3 mean?
The LGPL point 3 says:
3. You may opt to apply the terms of the ordinary GNU General Public
License instead of this License to a given copy of the Library. To do
this, you must alter ...
- 675
2
votes
1
answer
181
views
How does monetization of opensource app works?
I have a couple of questions regarding making a PRO version of an app.
If I want to make a PRO version with more features of my already
existing open-sourced MIT licensed app, what changes should I ...
2
votes
1
answer
124
views
Any lasting licensing implications from previously used, subsequently dropped library dependencies or usage licenses?
I will start off with this excerpt from Qt's legal faq to give some context:
3.13. I have started development of a product using the open source version of Qt, can I now purchase a commercial ...
- 479
2
votes
1
answer
274
views
Using only certain files out of GPL code
The whole of atk1.0-2.4.0 is listed under GNU-GPLv2.0. Can I take certain files out of GNU GPL license code and use it under different license / no license, or is this considered as obfuscation of ...
2
votes
1
answer
102
views
Does the CeCILL permit relicensing to licenses named in later versions of the license?
I want to release a program under the CeCILL version 2. It permits relicensing to the GPL, and I'm okay with that. However, version 2.1 permits relicensing to the European Union Public License, and I ...
- 2,538
2
votes
1
answer
142
views
Can I place a license on something that I already published? [duplicate]
Suppose I upload an image to my website under no license or copyright notice. But then I decide that I want to license it under specific open source CC attributes. Can I simply just add the license? ...
- 5,920
2
votes
1
answer
251
views
Can I use "public domain" data in MIT-licensed software?
I want to use a small dataset that a university professor posted on his web page (a list of English words). The data is part of a larger corpus of data that accompanies a textbook (written by said ...
2
votes
1
answer
214
views
Can you use a less restrictive open source licence from the one your depedency has?
Without loss of generality, suppose you have an open source Java project with Gradle as the build system, and you want to add the MIT licence to it. Consider the cases:
Case 1.
From the build.gradle ...
user20241
2
votes
1
answer
267
views
Is it a violation of the GPL (or any other license) for Linux images on Azure to have 'plans' associated with them in all future copies?
Some images on Azure are 'supported' via a 'plan' (see for example https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/cli-ps-findimage).
See for example:
https://azuremarketplace....
- 650
2
votes
1
answer
685
views
Copyright of modifications and derivative works of Python License 2 licensed software
I am writing a Python package in which I plan to vendorize a modified copy of part of another package that was released under Python License 2 (it is not part of the PSL and not subject to any other ...
- 123
2
votes
0
answers
113
views
Are there any ways to distribute a program compiled from both CPL and AGPL source code?
GSDJVU is a CPL licensed driver for GhostScript (AGPL). According to DjvuLibre, it is legal to download the source code for both and compile them, but not to redistribute the compiled program due to ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
60
views
Seeking a software license to fairly distribute income among open-source contributors, discourage closed-source OS dependency [closed]
I'm looking for a software license, wrapper, or amendment that distinguishes between users of open-source and closed-source operating systems, aiming to balance the efforts of open-source users and ...
- 21