All Questions
Tagged with license-change or relicensing
178 questions
95
votes
6
answers
17k
views
How can a project be relicensed?
I've found out that the license I picked for my project does not quite do what I wanted it do (bad research).
Now I want to change the license. Is it as simple as changing the LICENSE.txt in the root?...
- 2,248
80
votes
3
answers
18k
views
If I change the license of my project, can someone use the old license by navigating through Git history?
I am creating an open-source library in JavaScript and using Git to control versions and history.
I have several commits in which the LICENSE file is X (for example, MIT), but I would like to change ...
- 909
66
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Relicensing content under CC-BY-SA
I have compiled a body of work from numerous contributors, who all licensed their individual works to me under CC-BY-SA version 3.
Can I now instead redistribute their work under CC-BY-SA version 4?
- 764
51
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Can there be a copyright on negative code?
This is a hypothetical question, but I am curious. Feel free to ignore it, when it seems too theoretical for you.
Some people may know the situation that you implement a feature and in the end you ...
- 821
41
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Do I have to change license of fork if mainstream changes license?
I forked a repository a year ago, which at the time had GPLv3 license. Mainstream repository has now applied AGPLv3 license. Do I have to change my license too ? My fork's last commit is over a year ...
- 413
39
votes
7
answers
16k
views
Can I take BSD licensed code and distribute it under GPL?
Or in more general terms: Can I take code which is licensed under a permissive open source license (like the BSD license) and distribute it under a copyleft free software license (like the GPL)?
...
- 493
35
votes
7
answers
8k
views
Is it possible to close an open source project?
If yes, what are the consequences of Open Source projects being discontinued, if it's done by a large organization?
As per this post,
the older version of project can still be used under the same old ...
- 499
28
votes
4
answers
4k
views
If I include some GPL code in my project, can I release it as BSD?
I have scientific software that I would like to release under the BSD 3-clause licence, but it includes some old code that was released under GPL.
Can I still package it all and release as BSD?
- 417
26
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How to deal with licences after forking a project?
I forked a project with an MIT license on GitHub:
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2012 Some Name
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software ...
- 363
20
votes
3
answers
7k
views
Can I relicense an abandoned GPL project if the copyright owners are no longer responsive?
Suppose I want to use GPL-copyrighted software in a closed-source project. With actively maintained projects I can contact the copyright holders to see if I can work out an agreement with them. But ...
- 1,370
20
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How do I upgrade from GPLv2 to GPLv3?
Consider I've written a program and released it under the GNU GPL version 2. Now I want to release it under the GNU GPL version 3. Let's call this "upgrading the license". Is this possible? How do I ...
user490
20
votes
2
answers
709
views
Can I license a project which I have already released without a license?
If I have put my code in one of the online repositories and have made it public but haven't licensed it... (to which the policy is that you retain the copyright).
Is it enough to just commit a ...
- 3,117
19
votes
4
answers
6k
views
How can I protect the code from being 'rephrased' by AI to avoid license limitations?
I'm thinking of such issue (from the position of an open source/source available software developer).
In our days it is very easy to rephrase every text with the help of AI so that the meaning remains ...
- 291
18
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Can I relicense my own GPL code into Apache/MIT? [duplicate]
Suppose that I distribute my own code with a GPL license, even though the code use just external MIT or Apache code. In particular, no preexisting GPL code is in it.
Can I later relicense it under ...
- 307
18
votes
5
answers
2k
views
May someone else apply a license to CC0 material?
Alice licensed her work under CC0 1.0.
May Bob take Alice’s work and publish it under another Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY-SA)?
If yes, may Bob publish it under his own name (i.e., not ...
- 5,700
18
votes
1
answer
6k
views
PySimpleGUI, until now, has been distributed under the GPLV3, but just became a subscription model. How does that work?
PySimpleGUI, a GUI framework for Python, has previously been published under the LGPLv3. They just announced that they are changing to a subscription model with PysimpleGUI 5, and that previous ...
- 291
16
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is putting a page with javascript in it considered a redistribution
Imagine, I published a page on the web. It contains some javascript code, which uses open source library. Is it in general considered redistribution?
On one hand, it's a redistribution. You put code ...
16
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Relicensing an MIT licensed project under the GPL that has non code contributions from others
I have an Android Game I've written that I released under the MIT license. Recently, there have been several people who have downloaded the source of my application, added ads and uploaded it to the ...
- 163
15
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How does one combine differently licensed code in one open source program?
I'm the author of WorldPainter. It's licensed according to the GPL v3, but I am about to include some code (dynmap) that is licensed according to the Apache License version 2.0.
According to both ...
- 303
14
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Is it possible to change the current GPLv3 license to something else?
Essentially I am just testing out stuff, here is my situation:
I am developing a program which consists of several code files. I made a public repository on github where I regularly update those files....
- 149
14
votes
2
answers
250
views
Impact of accepting a new open source licence type when updating software
I understand that if someone chooses not to upgrade their software they are free to retain all license benefits of their existing software.
Please assume the following:
XYZ software version 1.0 has ...
- 465
13
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Can I change the license of a forked project to the MIT if the license of the parent project has changed from the GPL to the MIT?
Some time ago I have forked a project on the GitHub that used the GNU GPL v3 license. So I also had to use the GPL license in my fork.
Recently, the author of the original project changed license to ...
13
votes
1
answer
394
views
How does re-licensing without the approval of authors work (eg, wikimedia case)?
Wikipedia (and any other Wikimedia product) change to a dual licence since 01/08/2009. As I understand, that implies they redistribute GFDL licensed text in CC-BY-SA without asking every author (wich ...
- 263
12
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Am I in danger if a project component is relicensed?
I am currently managing a project, which includes a library that is licensed under the MIT license. My current project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.
The maintainers of the library that I ...
- 6,590
11
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Remove BSD LICENSE file while importing code into GPL project
Can LICENSE file be removed from 3rd party BSD project that is merged with GPLed code? There are license headers in each file, but files will be modified, so BSD license in them will no longer be ...
11
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How is the Expat (MIT) license compatible with the GPL?
Suppose I come across Project G, an open-source project licensed under the GNU GPL, and Project M, an open-source project licensed under the Expat license (also called the MIT license). I want to ...
- 1,165
11
votes
3
answers
346
views
What happens if I stop using a GPL library?
If I understand it correctly, when I develop a program that depends on a GPL library, it becomes a derivative work of the library and the GPL license also aplies to it. But what happens if I develop a ...
- 213
11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is a license bound to a commit?
Lets say there is some software hosted in a public github git repository under some license A. The owner and copyright-holder now decides to relicense the source-code to another license B. If i would ...
- 213
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How do I resolve license terms conflict when forking?
A project I would like to fork clearly states that it is released under the MIT license terms and includes the relevant LICENSE file. Separately, it also has a line in its CONTRIBUTING file that ...
- 103
10
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Can the GNU LGPL be removed from a piece of software?
Maybe I'm searching with the wrong terms, but can the GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE be removed from a software project like this browser extension? The commits in question are these
https://github....
- 203
10
votes
2
answers
751
views
Is the Maximum Use License for Everybody (MULE) a FOSS license?
I encountered an obscure software license called the Maximum Use License for Everybody (MULE). (I have used text from version 4 below, but my concerns also apply to version 3.) The license first ...
- 294
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Does reimplementing GPLv2 code in another language create a derivative work that also falls under the GPL?
I am now working with some ~2005 C CLI code, licensed as GPLv2-only. I hope to do the following things:
Port the code to a more recent environment (e.g. port to Ubuntu 22.04) (I only do this to try ...
- 111
10
votes
2
answers
659
views
Relicensing from GPL v2 to LGPL v2 - What if I can't contact all contributors?
I am a contributor to a very old project presently in violation of the GPL. Our project is a plugin for a closed-source program, but the GPL does not permit this kind of linking. The project should ...
- 367
9
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Can the Linux kernel be released under GPLv3?
From the Wikipedia article on Linux:
The Linux kernel is licensed explicitly only under version 2 of the GPL, without offering the licensee the option to choose "any later version", which is a ...
- 2,102
9
votes
2
answers
292
views
On what grounds can companies bring open source projects into closed source?
There are applications that are widely used out there (just think of PHP, MySQL, etc...). What would happen if the organisations behind them pull this software back into closed source?
On what ...
- 467
9
votes
1
answer
502
views
How should I re-license the scaffold code for my new application? (it is licensed under MIT)
If you notice the following scaffold starter kit source code is licensed under MIT throughout the code base. Even the configuration file contain a header of MIT licensed by the creator.
Assuming, I ...
- 191
9
votes
2
answers
802
views
Does it make sense to license my content under a more restrictive license if it's licensed CC-BY-SA?
Let's say that I make a post on a Stack Exchange site. That content is owned by me, but I gave the company a perpetual and irrevocable license under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0. As ...
- 1,792
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Can someone re-license an adaptation of my CC BY-NC materials under commercial terms?
In the comments below this answer, it is stated that while there is no ShareAlike clause (that would be CC BY-NC-SA), you would not be allowed to re-license Adapted Materials under commercial terms.
...
- 9,205
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why does the clause 3 of 4-clause BSD makes it incompatible with GPL?
As explained on the GNU GPL site, the 4-clause BSD is incompatible with GPL because of the clause 3 which states:
All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
must ...
- 1,370
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Relicensing open-source software
During my PhD at a research institution I developed some software that I made public under the LGPL license (upon advice from the law people at this institution). I then moved to another research ...
- 81
8
votes
1
answer
364
views
How does Bootstrap v4 (MIT) deal with contributions made under v3 (Apache 2.0)?
Bootstrap version 4 is under MIT license. Bootstrap version 3 and earlier ones were under Apache license 2.0.
Bootstrap version 4 probably inherits some source code from Bootstrap version 3.
Then, ...
Fujion
8
votes
1
answer
238
views
How to Audit licensing of old project?
I manage a project with a very long open source history - Zikula (and https://github.com/zikula/core).
Zikula grew out of PHPNuke and PostNuke. Most of the oldest code is long gone, but some legacy ...
- 183
8
votes
1
answer
799
views
Move from MIT license to a new one
I want to move from MIT license to a new one, with this goals to reach:
Leave the project free to use for individuals and small open source companies
Let commercial companies pay some money for using ...
- 183
8
votes
1
answer
211
views
How can I prove that a work was free/libre at some point?
The authors of a free/libre work can change the license of their work any time, and they can even make it non-free again.
This does not affect copies that were made before that change (and any ...
- 5,700
8
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How do I license code when rewriting code in another language? [duplicate]
I took the C code from the png2theora example tool of Xiph.Org Theora which has a copyright header:
/********************************************************************
* ...
- 183
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
If a project only includes a copy of the GPL, can it be relicensed under any version?
There's a project that only includes a copy of the GNU GPLv2 accompanying it that I wish to combine with GPL-3.0-or-later code. Assume that simply including a license file applies it globally to the ...
- 73
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can I relicense software under the modified BSD licence?
I want to modify and merge some software that is available under the two clause BSD license into a project that is available under the GNU GPL version 2.
I want to distribute the result under the GNU ...
- 495
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Can I change the license of re-written code?
The is a single file source code that I have used as a base for my little project. That source code already works as it is.
The problem is its syntaxes, variable naming, spacing, and so many unused ...
- 255
7
votes
2
answers
191
views
Global donor to OSI approved licenses
I have some small projects under different open source licenses (I like BSD and GPLv2).
I would like to license some new projects under an OSI approved license but make sure any other OSI-approved ...
- 181
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is it possible to move from MIT to BSD?
I commited some work on GitHub under the MIT license.
Is it possible to move from MIT license to BSD-3 or 4 clauses for some of the projects? And as an extent, to any other license?
If possible, is ...
- 205