Questions tagged [license-compatibility]

License compatibility is the comparison of two or more licenses to determine if certain usages and actions can be made. Use this tag if the question would like to determine the compatibility of licenses, or their individual clauses.

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Why is the GNU GPL v3 compatible with the Apache License v2.0?

I understand that the GNU GPL v2 and Apache License v2.0 are considered incompatible. The FSF's License List explains that this is "because [Apache] has some requirements that are not in that GPL ...
c-x-berger's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
322 views

Finding right license to support open source community only. GPLv3 too strict, LGPLv3 too permissive

I have created an open source library that is designed to be used by other open source projects; not by end users. Currently it is licensed as GPLv3. My main goal is that every project that uses my ...
pitschr's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
366 views

Is the EDL v1.0 GPL-compatible?

The GPL compatiblity overview compiled by the GNU foundation does not mention the Eclipse Distribution License. Is this license compatible with the AGPL v3?
Tin Man's user avatar
  • 310
13 votes
4 answers
3k views

Which licenses give me a guarantee that a software I'm installing is completely open-source, free of closed-source dependencies or components?

I have a question about free vs open source software that's more about practical implications from the user's perspective. I'll explain the mindset first before the actual question, so you can ...
geekley's user avatar
  • 253
3 votes
1 answer
257 views

Adding GPL classpath exception to program

GCC has a special exception that doesn't force you to use GPL for programs compiled with GCC. If I for example had program foo, how can I apply the classpath/GCC/linking exception to it as well? Do I ...
jay's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
1 answer
172 views

Is statically linking MIT/X licensed software with a GPLv2 library is illegal?

I am not going to distribute the binary ever. The program or the library is not mine. Will it be a problem?
kemal1313's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
140 views

Source and jar without dependencies under MIT, runnable jar with dependencies under GPL

I would like to develop MIT (or Apache 2.0)-licensed software using an LGPL library. As far as I understand this is allowed as long as I'm distributing the library in a separate jar file and loading ...
Jojomatik's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
86 views

How I do pack JAXB 2.3.3 with my open source programme?

I wrote a little java programme in Java 8 that uses a lot JAXB stuff that I ship as a free JAR, licensed under GPL. Users that have installed Java 9/10 installed need to use jvm parameters to run it. ...
setrok's user avatar
  • 21
3 votes
0 answers
104 views

Linking to Apache v.2.0 software in LGPL v.2.1 project [duplicate]

I am working on an open source project for an academic competition. Our customer requires us to use for our product the LGPL v.2.1. We have to use QR codes in part of our application, and we found ...
Alessandro Bertulli's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
39 views

How do I go about having stuff licensed differently in a project licensed under a different license?

Suppose my project A is licensed under AGPL v3. Now I choose to include stuff (a filter list actually) from different sources, which are licensed under GPLv2, CC-BY 4.0, and I have combined them in a ...
Anonymous Guy's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
202 views

At what point is software 'different enough' to exclude BSD license notice?

I ported a MATLAB repository to Python, with former having this two clause BSD License reading: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the ...
OverLordGoldDragon's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
131 views

MIT and MS-LPL license compatibility options

My project is MIT licensed and 3rd party code is all either ISC or MIT licensed which are both compatible licenses. I maintain project code licenses per file, that is each source includes a license ...
metablaster's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

MongoDB community license usage

As MongoDB introduced their own server-side-public-license model for community version I wonder in which use cases community version is allowed to be used in production. There are different ...
Ewoks's user avatar
  • 131
9 votes
1 answer
530 views

Is nmap's custom NPSL license free?

The nmap project uses a custom license called the "Nmap Public Source License" based on the GPLv2 but with additional terms. They provide the text of the license with annotations on their ...
matoro's user avatar
  • 93
5 votes
1 answer
707 views

How can you check if your dependencies comply to their dependencies' licenses?

Like the top answer of this post says, let's say your project uses library M. M uses the MIT license and has dependencies G and A, which use GPLv2 and Apache2 respectively. As a result, M is not ...
Adnan Zaman's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
44 views

Proper attribution of 'BSD 3-Clause License' code in a MIT license project [duplicate]

I have a repository on Github that I want to license under the MIT license. I have copy pasted parts of two other projects, one which is under an MIT license, and another which is under a BSD 3-Clause ...
Ibraheem Ahmed's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
65 views

AGPLv3 for fullstack library?

So I am making this library and I wish to monetize it, I got my first client for it and I am already rolling a product made with it, yet I don't have a license yet. The thing more than just a library ...
Onza's user avatar
  • 155
8 votes
1 answer
861 views

MIT license ok if dependent package uses LGPL

I would like to publish my opensource project with an MIT license but was wondering if that is ok given that a dependency (not a direct dependency) seems to have LGPL. These are my python packages ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 183
1 vote
0 answers
60 views

GPL v3 library used in custom built Kafka Connector wrapper

Imagine, there is communication library to specialized communication protocol to end devices licensed by GPL v3 and implemented for JVM. Then I implement specialized Kafka Connector on top of this ...
Marek Gregor's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
399 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 │ ...
atErik's user avatar
  • 123
5 votes
1 answer
277 views

GPL compatible alternative to LPPL?

Problem Sometimes, I write latex templates (e.g. to account for department-specific guidelines for theses etc.), and wonder how to license them. Background The IEEEtran latex class is licensed under ...
nonthevisor's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
246 views

Liability for errors in open source software

Is the government liable in all cases of the open-source software? Who except the government is to accept liability in the first place (later on, liability will be fixed on the erring ...
user37920's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
520 views

Distributing LGPL library (OpenAL) as part of the MIT licensed game engine

Background: I'm writing a game engine (a set of libraries actually) that simplifies game development with C# language (OK it is yet another game engine :). My plan is to make it as free as possible. ...
Pavel Melnikov's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
196 views

Is it ok to side-load GPL software into a closed-software?

I am developing an Electron app that I would like to distribute on the App Store. The app runs completely fine without any GPL parts or elements. The app itself has plugin support and communicates ...
HelloWorld's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
642 views

Source-only distribution of MIT-licensed project which depends on GPL library

I'm trying to understand exactly when a work becomes a "derivative work," and how it affects licensing of my project. In my situation, we have a scientific code that we have written which is ...
kc9jud's user avatar
  • 83
4 votes
1 answer
328 views

Project licensed under Apache 2 License but has JS libraries licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

I'm planning to use this open source project for my commercial product. The project itself is licensed under Apache 2.0 license but when I review the package, I found couple of JS libraries that it ...
blissfool's user avatar
  • 163
4 votes
1 answer
638 views

Is it allowed to redistribute tools.jar and JRE component of OpenJDK 8?

tl;dr Is it legal to redistribute tools.jar and JRE component of OpenJDK 8 with my app? If possible, tell me what OpenJDK vendor I can redistribute (RedHat, Azul,...) Installing JDK on user machine is ...
HeashSathern's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
51 views

What are the most suitable license for full open source framework? [closed]

I'm newbie in Open Source. In the near future I plan to publish to GitHub my web framework based on ECMA(JScript)/XSLT based on IIS hosting. In plans to make the repository as public. So that I can ...
timnavigate's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
53 views

Can I use a GPL licensed library in my software if its only used in a helper process?

I found a library that uses the GPL-2.0 license. I know about the conflicts between GPL, closed source and commercial projects. I am considering to use a GPL licensed library in an executable (helper....
Daniel Stephens's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
232 views

Including GPL plugin in repository of MIT code

I have an MIT-licensed library that supports user-provided backends. I was asked to implement a backend that would require using a GPL-licensed library. If I write such a backend, license it's files ...
Neil Lindquist's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
36 views

Choose or write a proper license [duplicate]

Is there a proper license (I have already checked MIT, LGPL, CC licenses), which fits the following needs (conditions), or it has to be specify some way? BY (from CC): Attribution needed SA (from CC):...
pnz1337's user avatar
  • 109
2 votes
1 answer
111 views

Are these additional permission properly worded?

I'm planning to create an AGPL licensed web app that should help you with organizing your life. I want to create it in Clojure but there are a few roadblocks that I want to avoid with additional ...
Marsman's user avatar
  • 23
4 votes
1 answer
56 views

How does copyright interact with licenses?

This came to my mind recently as I was thinking of releasing some code I wrote under a license. The Xcode IDE automatically inserts the following at the top of new files: // // [filename] // [...
atirit's user avatar
  • 143
3 votes
1 answer
509 views

Is it possible to re-brand an MPL licensed open source software?

I have a question regarding the "MPL" license. Is it possible to re-brand and distribute an MPL licensed open-source software for commercial purposes? I read that Debian has rebranded ...
kallada's user avatar
  • 133
51 votes
5 answers
9k 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 ...
allo's user avatar
  • 781
1 vote
1 answer
145 views

Which licensing model should I use to share software within a company?

This is just hypothetical at this point. So just doing some ground work to understand, if this is even possible. If yes, which licensing model is most appropriate? Our company has several units. In ...
askids's user avatar
  • 111
9 votes
1 answer
849 views

Can Commons Clause be used along with AGPL?

This article implies that Commons Clause and AGPL could be compatible, while FSF seems to completely disagree with that. Can Commons Clause be applied on a AGPL project? Some have misconstrued that ...
andreoss's user avatar
  • 509
3 votes
1 answer
121 views

Open Source license for a software implementation of a game for which I don't own IP (on mechanics, design, ..)

I am implementing an online version of a card game. The author and publisher of the game owns the IP, evidently (e.g on mechanics and design). the game (mechanics) and the graphics are our ...
Grégory Joseph's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Licensing an electron app made with third-party packages

I have an app made with electron.js I have used third party packages in my app. All the packages have permissive licenses(MIT and BSD License) with them. I am using UI assets(e.g. icons) with MIT ...
Atiq Gauri's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
176 views

What might be the licence for OpenAI model generated code snippets?

I saw an interesting video on computer-generated code snippets. The model has been trained on thousands of open source GitHub repositories. In the video, an AI model produced some small code ...
oleksii's user avatar
  • 161
4 votes
1 answer
140 views

Can I make a GPLv3 or AGPLv3 software which serves a proprietary protocol?

I'm planning to make a GPLv3 or AGPLv3 library to allow the library user to interact with the multiplayer portion of a non-free, closed-source, proprietary game. The game's EULA explicitly allows the ...
Polyana Fontes's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
107 views

Can FOSS software make API calls to proprietary systems?

I'm not sure if the distinction between free and open source software makes a difference for this question, so I'll use the term FOSS. Can a FOSS platform make API calls to proprietary systems, such ...
Wynne's user avatar
  • 581
2 votes
3 answers
418 views

Proprietary resources in GPLv3 project

Can a GPL project use proprietary resources (icons) as part of it? What I mean is that if it is possible that there is a repository covered by a GPL license that has a build script that downloads ...
Klemen's user avatar
  • 171
4 votes
1 answer
107 views

Change license from Ritchey Extra Permissive License v2 to Zero-Clause BSD

Can I take something which is licensed under the Ritchey Extra Permissive License v2, and use the sub-licensing clause to distribute it under the Zero-Clause BSD license?
Guyell's user avatar
  • 41
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

License of code generated by a code generator

I am wondering under what license the code generated by a code generator that generates code from conditional code templates would fall under. Would it be possible to release the generator's source ...
Klemen's user avatar
  • 171
1 vote
0 answers
20 views

What I should consider about licenses when starting a software project? [duplicate]

I'm trying to come up with all the license-related considerations I should think about when starting a software project from scratch. I believe taking into account the licenses of programming ...
dsm's user avatar
  • 43
1 vote
1 answer
2k 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 ...
user2631426's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
201 views

Can I change the license of a forked project from LGPLv3 to MIT?

I have forked a project with LGPLv3 license and I did there a lot of changes. Can I distribute a new version under the MIT license? Or only the possibility is to write the code from "scratch"? ...
Maximi's user avatar
  • 153
0 votes
1 answer
66 views

Licence recommendation

I am developing a software in Java and JavaFx for a local sports club (I don't get payed). I would like to grant the club all the rights for using and modifing the software as they like. Therefore I ...
soeldner's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
50 views

.RDS files and GPL license in R

We are building an application that uses machine learning to predict certain parameters and use them in an optimization algorithm afterwards. We are not building the front-end in R neither the back-...
tfkLSTM's user avatar
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