Questions tagged [licensing]
Licensing refers to applying a license to an area of software. Only use this tag if your question concerns the application of a license to an area of interest. If your question concerns a specific license, use the tag that corresponds to your license. For more general questions, use this tag.
565 questions
2
votes
1answer
80 views
Why contribute to Android if it has an Apache license?
Why do commercial firms contribute to Android open source project if they are not bound to. They can build their own version of android and use it with their products under any license. Samsung uses ...
1
vote
1answer
113 views
Using iText library with AGPL license to make application open sourced
I am working on a project to generate a 508 compliant annual PDF Publication from our database using iText 7 java library. This library works great for accessible PDFs. We are in the process of ...
2
votes
1answer
21 views
How to add the name of my organization to a Mozilla Public License?
My organization made a Python module and would like to share it under the Mozilla Public License.
Is there a way to add the name of this organization to the license ?
If I use the license as is, ...
3
votes
1answer
141 views
Copyright notice in the file header (Apache v2 license)
Recently, about 50 top contributors (including myself) decided to fork Swagger Codegen to maintain a community-driven version called "OpenAPI Generator" (https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-...
3
votes
1answer
53 views
Can I add a license to a forked repository? Can I license only my added code?
I would like to fork an existing repository which has no existing license. I would then like to add the GNU GPLv3 license to any code that I write, but it seems as though I cannot apply this license ...
0
votes
0answers
20 views
Can I make the code in a project currently licensed under the MIT license private without involving a contributor? [duplicate]
I licensed an iOS project under MIT license and a friend made one contribution, adding a few lines to the README.md. The project has been forked twice.
I would like to make the second version closed ...
5
votes
1answer
71 views
Can I redistribute node.exe in my commercial Application's Installer?
I want to use node.exe and a very simple Javascript that essentially uses only the net module for some functionality in my product. I don't need anything else. I know electron and other frameworks are ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Which of Qt license files must we include with our open source (MIT) software?
We are using the LGPL version of Qt 4.8 for some components of our MIT-licensed desktop software (https://appleseedhq.net/).
In my Qt 4.8.7 distribution, I see at least the following license files:
....
2
votes
1answer
48 views
Are we liable for license problems posed by transitive OSS libraries?
We (small team in large organisation, in Germany/EU) have the following situation:
we use OSS libraries within our commercial products, licenses are checked and we are sure that we're complying (LGPL,...
1
vote
1answer
11 views
Are there any licensing restrictions on the Training Center XML file format?
The wikipedia page doesn't give much information on the page. It seems to be only generated by garmin devices but there are numerous open source libraries that can process this file format.
Are ...
3
votes
1answer
50 views
Is declaring something one made as “free software” legally binding?
I used an unfree license, but I made a copy paste mistake, declaring that the licnesed stuff is "free software".
Is that legally binding = does it grant the licensee the three fos freedoms?
Here the ...
-1
votes
1answer
188 views
iText 2.1.7 in commercial Project
This question was originally asked on Stack Overflow but since licensing questions are off topic I move it here. So here comes the original question about this open source library:
I want to use the ...
4
votes
1answer
70 views
Relicensing a fork of a GPL project and source code distribution requirements
(Reposted in here because this is the more correct section.)
So the situation is this: I run a project which is a fork of an emulator licensed under GPL v2, my fork respects that and has not ...
0
votes
1answer
35 views
Third-party component licensing obligations, usage and obligations scale
I'm not sure if this question makes sense here although in my point of view it does. Otherwise I would be happy to post it in the right SO.
Scope
I would like to rise a few scenarios concerning ...
0
votes
1answer
65 views
Can I commercialize my product that uses mblock?
I have a question regarding licensing of mblock based products.
The mBlock 5 is a software tool for STEAM education. It is inspired by Scratch 3.0 and supports graphical and text programming. Also, ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Using Material Design icons in commercial software
I want to use Material Design icons provided by Google in my web app.
According Apache License I guess I must mention the author.
How should I do it?
a) Write into footer something like: "All icons ...
3
votes
1answer
37 views
How to license or patent an open standard for a GPL program?
I am starting an open source project that consist of two parts: a program for reading, writing, modifying, and displaying information from file and a standard for the file. Obviously, this project may ...
3
votes
1answer
56 views
Opensource license ownership and collaboration
If a person releases their source under some Open source license. And later if another person contributes to the project through a pull request (in Github). Then, does the contributor gets a say if ...
4
votes
3answers
105 views
Redistributing MSVC runtime components with GPL application
A library I used in my native Visual C++ application was GPLv3-licensed; I found the GPL acceptable, and thus I was planning to make my application GPL-licensed as well. The application depends on ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Can one get all copyrights on derivative software if one add enough new code?
According to german law, can one get all copyrights on software derivative if one added enough new code?
if yes, how is the "percentage of new code" measured?
if yes, are there such paragraphs in ...
1
vote
1answer
46 views
OSS licensing for GitHub projects
If I made some contributions to a repository on GitHub and then decided to delete the source code that I contributed, are other users of the repository still allowed to use that particular source code?...
0
votes
2answers
49 views
I modified and used GPL2 Code in my Apache 2 Open Source Project - can my Project be used commercially, closed source?
I wrote a library in Java for Bcrypt. Bcrypt's OpenBSD implementation uses a exotic flavour of the standard RFC Base64 encoding. Since there are no standard implementations for this, I modified (and ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Can I use GPL v3 licensed software in a commercial application that is accessed through web APIs?
A product that I'm developing uses a component that is licensed under GPL v3.
I do not want to redistribute the software: I plan to have a paid service where users can access my software through ...
0
votes
0answers
12 views
can I use CC BY-SA 3.0 media (pictures) in a software partly licensed under a non-derivative license?
I am working on a software wich contains graphics i didn't make that are licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
since the software contains other parts I didn't make, I want to put it under two different ...
4
votes
1answer
641 views
Is dual licensing a software that contains gpl programs possible?
I have seen that there is a question about gpl and dual licensing, but I know copyleft can behave different depending on the shape of the software.
so here's my question:
I have a package of lua ...
-3
votes
1answer
81 views
Can open-source software have not any free version? [closed]
I was using the project, and I did not know this until I was going to use the software on production, and it showed a warning when it realized it's not development mode.
I found an open-source ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
Why do I have to accept license agreements for the Android SDK?
When I install Android SDK components, I am prompted to accept an EULA for the components I install.
As far as I understand it, the core of Android is under FOSS licenses—the kernel is a fork of the ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Mimicking an AGPLv3-licensed server for reading open data: Are there licence/legal issues?
I am not very well familiar with details in how free licences work and interact, so I'm seeking help.
Situation in brief: There is a desktop application X licensed under AGPL v.3. Users of X may ...
0
votes
2answers
77 views
Is reverse-compiled assembly considered as a valid form of “source code” in GPLv2?
My project used and modified some code from project A licensed under GPLv2 written in C. Now I was wondering that if I release my compiled binary with its reverse-compiled assembly, is it GPLv2-...
4
votes
1answer
43 views
Can a license be placed anywhere in a file?
I forked some code, the license is MIT. It states that
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
without ...
1
vote
0answers
52 views
Copy part of GNU FDL-licensed document
I'm writing some documentation for a project of mine. This project depends on a GNU project so I must license it under the GNU GPL. In future, it might be integrated in that GNU project so I'm ...
1
vote
1answer
44 views
If I modify and include a MIT lcensed software in my website, have i to include the license?
If i modify and include a MIT lcensed software in my website (script for functions, no download for users), have i to include the license? Have i to indicate the changes?
2
votes
1answer
130 views
Why GitHub is not opensource when it's use Git that has GPLv2 license?
I have this question after all happens when Microsoft bought GitHub. But GitHub core is not git? I now that when you use a GPLv2 in your program you must have to give your program the same license. ...
13
votes
2answers
6k views
What exactly is Tivoization and why did Linus Torvalds not like it in GPLv3?
I still don't understand what is Tivoization and why Linus Torvalds did not like it. Can you explain to me the big idea of Tivoization?
0
votes
0answers
26 views
Can I use code with MIT license with my GPLv2 or v3 code? [duplicate]
Let's say that I make a program and I put it on Github with GPLv2 license. Can i later add code from another person that has MIT license (adding his/her license in the repository of course).
How ...
3
votes
1answer
53 views
Open source license and “all other rights reserved”?
I came across this license declaration:
This source code is subject to the terms of the Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL).
For details, see http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ms-rl.html.
...
0
votes
2answers
92 views
Is License Zero compatible with other open source licenses like GNU, MIT or BSD licenses for example?
I am currently developing a small open source project and would like to make sure I got the licensing right. I am pretty new to the open source model. I have benefited from it on a personal level for ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
when using AngularJS can I gpl code that only I have written?
This is about mixing licenses, etc.
I have a simple chat server/client app, written in PHP (server side, 100% my own code) and AngularJS. The process for Angular development typically brings in many ...
3
votes
1answer
158 views
Commercial print (shirt) of GitHub repository
GitHub offers a list of 33 licenses:
Academic Free License v3.0 afl-3.0
Apache license 2.0 apache-2.0
Artistic license 2.0 artistic-2.0
Boost Software License 1.0 bs1-1.0
BSD 2-clause "Simplified" ...
4
votes
1answer
46 views
Can GPL with linking exception be linked with GPL and non-GPL simultaneously?
Let's say I have:
A GPL module with linking exception.
A non-GPL module.
A pure-GPL module.
I know that module 1 can be linked with module 2.
My questions are:
Can I link module 1 with module 3? ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Having a mixed license repository with GPL and non GPL code
I have some code that I would like to integrate with a GPL licensed piece of code, my code is licensed BSD. If absolutely necessary I could license everything GPL, but if possible I would prefer to ...
5
votes
2answers
69 views
Can I move an in-line license to a file?
I am currently using a library that is licensed under MIT.
Each file of the library has a in-line comment containing the standard MIT license text in full length, which is kind of repetitive in my ...
1
vote
2answers
79 views
Is it possible to create commercial software by studying the code of a github project with no license?
I'd like to know if what I'm telling is possible or not.
I obviously know that's illegal to copy the code and add it to a commercial software.
But I think it's not illegal to study the code so you ...
3
votes
1answer
54 views
Can commercial software be created with Tor license?
I'm not sure if commercial software can be created with the Tor license without previous permission of the Tor community:
Here's its license:
Tor license.
In that license I don't see anything that ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
Using GPLv2 licensed library in engineer's thesis
I wanted to base my engineer's thesis on Truffle framework (https://github.com/oracle/graal/tree/master/truffle) and GraalVM (https://github.com/oracle/graal). Truffle is licensed under GPL 2 with ...
3
votes
1answer
41 views
Bundling GCC along with my GPLv2 project
Is it legal to bundle the GCC cross-compiler (tar.bz2 file) along with a GPL v2 licensed ARMv4T processor core on Github? The compiler will extracted during simulations to compile C code for the core ...
-7
votes
2answers
92 views
license - how to skip GPLv2 [closed]
We have read lot of questions about General Public License v2 and know that it's like a virus and everything that does touch it get open-source:
we just use/need a single component/library in our ...
2
votes
0answers
134 views
How to add Firebase API's licence into our app?
Like many other apps, whenever our app uses a third-party library, we add its licence to a page in our app displaying all third-party licences, be the licence MIT or Apache. Recently, we have added ...
2
votes
1answer
50 views
Query on distributing Application under Apache 2.0 license which dynamically links with LGPL2.1 shared libraries
I'm writing some C++ code which I might eventually like to release under an Apache v2.0 license.
I'm looking to build the application linking to some of the LGPL v2.1-licensed shared libraries from ...
4
votes
2answers
240 views
How to properly re-license code released under the MIT License?
Suppose I fork a software with 1000 files licensed under the MIT License.
There's only a LICENSE file in the root of the project (no MIT License notice at the beginning of the files).
Now, if I add ...
