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.

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4 votes
2 answers
72 views

Do EUPL-1.2 license violations have to be disputed in an EU court?

Section 14 of the EUPL-1.2 states: Jurisdiction Without prejudice to specific agreement between parties, — any litigation resulting from the interpretation of this License, arising between the ...
10 votes
4 answers
2k views

Why does the GPL not specify a jurisdiction or choice of law clause?

tl;dr version Unlike most software licenses, the GPL (at least version 3.0) does not contain a choice of law provision. Why is this, and what provisions are in place to adjudicate disputes in the ...
15 votes
5 answers
5k views

Locking myself from ever changing license

Is there any way, that I can lock myself from ever changing the repository license to non open-source one? These is this trend with open-source companies, that once they gain enough press, and enough ...
2 votes
0 answers
29 views

Can I use blazor (MIT) and mysql community (GPL) for commercial purposes? [closed]

If I sell my program in blazor and use mysql community for the data layer... my blazor program would be under the GPL?, that is, would I have to deliver my source code of my blazor made in program?
2 votes
1 answer
62 views

Short Weak Copyleft Software License

Is there a short weak (or strong) copyleft license? I like the GPL v3. The way that all its different sections interlock is quite poetic. However, this beauty comes at the cost of it being near ...
3 votes
1 answer
52 views

How do I properly put third-party dependencies under MIT on my copyright notice for a published MacOS app on the App Store?

If IconCast is the name of a close-sourced app I'm publishing that makes money, and AppIconSetGen, an open source library under the MIT license made by someone else that I made some changes to (which ...
4 votes
0 answers
41 views

Creating new functionallity for an existing project under MPL 1.1

I am currently developing a new functionality for an existing open-source project on GitHub (FusionPBX), and I have a question regarding licensing. The original project contains files with the ...
3 votes
1 answer
89 views

Is it possible to use AGPL with Go?

Is it possible to license Go source code using the AGPL? Every Go program gets linked statically with the Go runtime, which does not use the AGPL. Is this allowed to use the AGPL for my own code and ...
4 votes
1 answer
360 views

License requirements for self-contained dotnet (.net) core in embedded linux

I am developing a .net core self-contained application for an embedded linux device. The software is part of the device image and won't be sold standalone nor it is downloadable in binary or source ...
2 votes
1 answer
145 views

Open code, closed repo?

Has anyone tried to separately license their repository (e.g. Git) from the code that it holds? How did it go? (Sorry about the open-ended nature of the question.) Corollary to this question: what is ...
2 votes
0 answers
45 views

Need Help Choosing a FOSS License for a Swift Package With Specific Requirements [duplicate]

Stack Overflow community! I'm working on a Swift package and am having some trouble deciding which FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) license to use. I have specific requirements and am hoping ...
2 votes
1 answer
12 views

using external images of multiple different licenses in a single document-oriented project

I am working on a project to create (in PDF) letter charts for children for alphabet learning. This involves a number of different pictures from different sources (but mostly Wikipedia) and different ...
3 votes
2 answers
629 views

Is it allowed to copy code under the Unity Reference-Only License?

While developing the game, I need a method that changes the rendering type of the material, but the corresponding method is in the internal class StandardShaderGUI, which I don't have access to. I ...
8 votes
4 answers
6k views

Why it is not possible to create a proprietary fork of GPL?-or-later software?

Let's assume there is a project under GPL2-or-later license. My understanding is that anyone can take the project and make a fork with GPL2-only additions. They could also take the project and make a ...
31 votes
4 answers
15k views

Am I legally required to provide a (GPL licensed) source code even after a project is abandoned?

I plan to develop an application using an easy to use GPLv2 licensed libraries. Once my app is complete I plan to distribute it free and open source complying with GPLv2 copyleft requirements. The ...
3 votes
1 answer
76 views

Is BSD-3-Clause Variant compatible with BSD-3-Clause?

My Python package has a dependency of an open-source package with a BSD-3-Clause-LBNL variant license. It seems the only difference between this variant and the original BSD-3-Clause license is the ...
2 votes
2 answers
5k views

How can I correctly apply the Apache 2.0 licence to contributed code from an existing repository?

Given a repository github.com/x in github that is licenced with Apache 2.0. On their source files they have Copyright [2019] [Evil Corp] Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License")...
3 votes
1 answer
74 views

How should be a SPDX license name when extracting from another file content?

Following the SPDX simple license expressions and the License identifier field example, when creating a custom license that's not listed in licenses list (including exception), I could use LicenseRef-...
179 votes
2 answers
94k views

What can I assume if a publicly published project has no license?

There is some code on GitHub that I would like to use. The repository has no public declaration of license that I can find. But this particular project has over 200 forks and is a pretty active ...
3 votes
2 answers
73 views

Using GPLv2 License in an internal company software that develops physical products

There are many questions in here regarding licenses, however, I did not find this specific scenario. I have the following situation: There is an internal company software, which is used for producing ...
-1 votes
2 answers
55 views

A project states no license, but imports GPL code. Can I assume an implied license? [duplicate]

According to the answers to What can I assume if a publicly published project has no license?, If a repository has no license, then all rights are reserved and it is not Open Source or Free. You ...
2 votes
1 answer
287 views

How do Wikipedia licenses, CC-BY-SA and GFDL differ?

Wikipedia licenses most of their text and images under two licenses, CC-BY-SA and GFDL. We can choose either of the licenses while using the work. I know both of them are copyleft licenses and ...
17 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is there a license like MIT that explicitly forbids the use of AI?

I am aware that the licenses of e.g. code on Github are currently not observed when training AIs and that there are licenses such as AGPL that require the code to be disclosed. But is there already a ...
1 vote
1 answer
88 views

License R code when using R packages with different license types

I am navigating licensing, and this is very confusing. I produced a lot of R code to analyze data for a research article that will be published on a peer-reviewed journal. Reading here License for R ...
-1 votes
0 answers
23 views

Is there a software license that says anyone can do what they want with it except sell it or sell modified versions of it? [duplicate]

From what I can tell GPL lets folks modify your code and sell it and MIT lets them do whatever they want. I plan on charging for my application. I am okay if someone wants to tweak it and use it for ...
127 votes
5 answers
18k views

How can a "crayon" license be a problem?

Bruce Perens (co-founder of OSI) has coined the term "crayon license": I've been calling these "crayon licenses", taking a line from an old Monty Python sketch about a dog license ...
9 votes
1 answer
995 views

How should an Open-Source project that can be integrated into proprietary software be licensed?

Say I have a personal software project that I would like to be Open-Source. 100% of the source code for my version of that project is available online for everyone (e.g. on GitHub). I'd the like to ...
3 votes
1 answer
112 views

License like LGPL-3.0, but owner can sell source to 3rd party freely and contributors can't say no or revoke code

TL;DR: Basically "Hey, look, I felt your soft A lacked this so I made this Soft B. You can buy it and add it or do whatever you want with it but don't be a dick and give credit where it's due. ...
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

An open-source license that seems impossible to comply with

I am a math professor, and I'm considering pushing my department to adopt OpenStax textbooks. These are free, and the website says that they are offered under the CC BY-NC-SA license. However, the ...
1 vote
0 answers
31 views

How to license website articles under a different licence to source code [duplicate]

I'm making a personal website whose source code I intend to license under a permissive licence like Apache 2.0, for example, I might host the code on GitHub and use GitHub Pages to host the site. But ...
3 votes
1 answer
59 views

Allowances/rules for including binary/compiled files from another OSS project into my own repo?

Long story made short: Have a python based repo in Github currently. It relies on some external software in its compiled/executable form as a simple popen call. Currently it relies on the user to ...
4 votes
3 answers
185 views

Non Wordpress-repository Plugin license

A client asked me to write a WP plugin that is just for their website - it won't be on the repository. Basically it contains a form, place-able with a shortcode, and then sends the collected entry ...
1 vote
1 answer
66 views

Dual-licensing model

Imagine I have a program which is licensed by GPLv3. Now will I be able to apply a second license for non-open one? It says that anyone who wants to copy, distribute, modify my program needs my ...
2 votes
1 answer
69 views

Publish open source

I use iText in my application Is the application considered open source if I put the AGPL3 license when publishing the application on Google Play only?, or I must to do something else to considered ...
5 votes
2 answers
251 views

Do public foundation registered members constitute "organization" in the GPL distribution context?

From this question: Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or company “distribution”? No, in that case the organization is just making the copies for itself. As a consequence, a ...
2 votes
1 answer
63 views

Are proprietary licenses in an Apache 2.0 usable

I found a Github project licensed under Apache 2.0 that I would like to use in another project. This project contains libraries that seems to be proprietary and that the owner of the project might ...
1 vote
1 answer
87 views

Does GPL apply to optional and disabled code and no linking

I am using mostly LGPL or compatible libraries, but there's also a few that are available under GPL & compatible only. I understand that GPL requirements apply to software distribution, in other ...
1 vote
0 answers
80 views

Understanding PDFtk and GPL license

I work for a local county that will generate our local tax statements for free via a web service consumable by a public URL. For example, the web service would generate and stream the PDF using the ...
5 votes
2 answers
3k views

"Pure Copyleft" Software Licenses? (with no additional restrictions)

TL;DR How can we replace the GPLv3 requirements of source disclosure + explicit license copy with something more subtle like "This work allows the users [...], and any derived work (recursively) ...
5 votes
1 answer
325 views

Legal and Usage Questions about an Extension of Whisper Model on GitHub

I recently came across an extension version of the Whisper model from OpenAI on GitHub, (https://github.com/linto-ai/whisper-timestamped) and I'm interested in using it in my Python project. However, ...
5 votes
2 answers
96 views

Simple free culture attribution license?

I'd like to license my creative works that are not code (including the project's documentation) under a license that is like the MIT license, but does apply to non-code. The CC BY is too big to fit ...
5 votes
3 answers
5k views

Can I use Oracle's JDBC driver in an MIT licenced project?

I have decided to make a project of mine free and open source under the MIT licence. This project uses Oracle's JDBC driver. My question is am I able to include ojdbc in my Github project and if so, ...
4 votes
1 answer
775 views

"Modding" GPL Software and using in a multi-part commercial application

Here's my dilemna: I own proprietary software that generates HTML. I want my end users to use a GPL v3 open source licensed software that renders HTML in a special GUI. But I want to white label/...
2 votes
1 answer
80 views

Obligations implied by the Apache 2.0 License for an open source project

I'm using two libraries under Apache 2.0 license opennlp and crux. The source code of my Android opensource app will be on Github. And the app will be released on Google Play Store. What are all my ...
4 votes
1 answer
136 views

Apache License 2.0 compatibility with source code licensed under GPL 2 with classpath exception

I am working on an open-source project that is governed by the Apache License 2.0, and I want to make use of Java source code from OpenJDK 11, which is governed by the GPL 2 license with classpath ...
3 votes
0 answers
101 views

Publishing GPLv3 code on Steam

I own a project called Luminol currently licensed under GPlv3 I'd like to distribute on Steam. If possible, I'd like to keep Luminol as GPLv3, mainly to ensure modifications of Luminol are public. I'...
4 votes
1 answer
370 views

Is a CLA necessary?

PDF4QT is released under LGPL3+. If you open a PR, the maintainer asks you to sign a CLA. Is this necessary? My code must be released under LGPL3+ as well, otherwise I'll fail to fulfill the license ...
4 votes
1 answer
454 views

GPL and original author's copyright text in completely rewritten code

I'm about to release my first "big" project on Github, and although I want it to remain open-source and I have no plan of selling it, I want to try to make this licensing stuff right for my ...
5 votes
1 answer
108 views

Appropriate license for songbook shared with friends

I am planning to write a songbook (LaTex, Lilypond) of christmas/seasonal songs and am looking for the right license to pick. Some parameters of the project: The book currently is planned with songs ...
2 votes
0 answers
216 views

Commercial usage of sentence-transformers/multi-qa-mpnet-base-cos-v1

We are trying to use a HuggingFace Embedding model - multi-qa-mpnet-base-cos-v1 for an internal Large Language Model powered application. While reading the documentation it says (not verbatim): For ...

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