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.
247
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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 ...
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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 ...
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4
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Can I license my project with an open-source license but disallow commercial use?
I'd like to make my project open-source. Is there a free/open-source license that lets me do that, but disallows anyone receiving my project to use it for commercial purposes or monetary gain?
In a ...
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2
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Why is CC BY-SA discouraged for code?
Everybody knows that you shouldn't use a CC BY-SA license on your code. Even the Creative Commons folk recommend against it. What I don't know or understand is why. I can't seem to find any ...
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4
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Are licenses irrevocable by default?
I've noticed that some FOSS licenses explicitly mention that they are irrevocable (as long as their conditions are met) and others are silent on this point. Does this matter? Are the licenses that don'...
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95
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6
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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?...
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1
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What are the licensing terms of the text of the GPL?
The text of the GPLv3 starts with the following disclaimer:
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
What does this ...
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51
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5
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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 ...
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40
votes
2
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MIT license and "All rights reserved."?
I recently saw something like this:
Copyright (c) Some Corporation
All rights reserved.
MIT License
...
And then the MIT license follows. Now, from what I know the MIT license is one of the most ...
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31
votes
3
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Do I really need to include a licence file for common licences like GPL or MIT?
The GPL3, for example, says:
Conveying Verbatim Copies.
You may convey verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and ...
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29
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3
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Do I have to offer the source of an AGPL (v3.0) licensed Web app even if I didn’t modify it?
The point of using the GNU Affero General Public License (Version 3) is that it allows "users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program" (FSF).
...
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39
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3
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If I'm using a GPL 3 library in my project, can I license my project under MIT license?
If I'm using a library that is licensed under GPL v3 in my project, can I license my project under the MIT license? I tried to read the GPL v3 text but I cannot understand it without your assistance.
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3
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When folks send me pull-requests on GitHub, what are their copyright/licensing terms by default?
Say I'm maintaining a GPLv3 project on GitHub with a LICENSE file, code headers and all. Now, a few folks made some code enhancements and sent me a pull-request. Does that automatically mean that they ...
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40
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3
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Can I "Override" a licensing policy?
On many sites, especially Stack Overflow, I can't help but notice such amazing code snippets. However, they come with a "catch" designed by the author.
With user contributions being licensed with the ...
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32
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2
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Copyright and Contributing to an Open Source Project
I'm a little confused by copyright notices on open source projects.
Let's say that a particular project is covered by a very permissive license, such as MIT or BSD. A copyright notice appears from ...
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1
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Why shouldn't Creative Commons licenses be used for software? [duplicate]
Suppose I was finishing up an open source software. I needed to license it under an open source license.
My question:
Why would I not want to license my software under a Creative Commons license?
...
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17
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1
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If I translate/port a repository from one programming language to another, do I need to use the license file (Github) from that original project?
If I translate/port a repository from one programming language to another, do I need to use the license file (Github) from that original project? Or can I use my own license file.
I intend to use the ...
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11
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2
answers
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Why do almost all open source licenses require attribution?
Almost all popular open source licenses require derivative works to give attribution to the original author(s). The only exceptions I'm aware of are the nearly-public-domains ones (CC0, WTFPL, ...
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9
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2
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If I use a public API endpoint that has its source code licensed under AGPL in my app, do I need to disclose my source?
If there's a public API server that has it's source code licensed with AGPL, and if I make an app that uses these public endpoints in some part of it, (entire application doesn't necessarily depend on ...
4
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1
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What is defined as trivial code when licensing a project
I am creating a project I am thinking about open sourcing but I am concerned about the licensing issue of what exactly is trivial code. I am concerned because if I did not know how to do something I ...
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1
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256
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Extend GPL to be informed in case of derivative work
I understand that any work that is based on work licensed under GPL must also be released under GPL. However, it does not require contacting original authors about the fact that a derivative work has ...
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23
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SSPL and the Open Source Definition
MongoDB has decided to change the licensing of MongoDB Community Server, seemingly to prevent businesses from monetizing on their product without giving anything back: https://www.mongodb.com/press/...
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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 ...
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2
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Is my code FLOSS just because it is published it on GitHub?
Does publishing my code on GitHub make it FLOSS automatically? Is there some license automatically assigned to it? Is it "technically or say literally, open source"?
user490
9
votes
1
answer
3k
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AGPL v3 licensing: How does external party determine if modifications were made?
When using an AGPL v3 licensed software within a public-facing web application hosted on a private server, you are obligated (section 13) to share your code if you modify the original AGPL code. Many ...
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1
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I am using a MIT licensed module in a closed source project. What are my obligations?
I am using diverse module under the MIT license in my project. The project consist of a webserver, which will be closed source, commercial, and will not be distributed.
As I understand the MIT ...
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3
votes
1
answer
373
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As the owner of a GPLv3 project, what type of restrictions will be placed on me if I accept contributions?
For example, will accepting someone's copyrighted contribution prohibit me from changing the license, accepting donations towards the project, or anything else?
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61
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3
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Open-source license to prevent commercial use? [duplicate]
I could really use some help picking the right license for my project. The project is already released on github under the GPLv3 license but I have been made aware that this prevents uses that I want ...
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35
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2
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What exactly is Tivoization and why didn't Linus Torvalds like it in GPLv3?
I still don't understand what Tivoization is and why Linus Torvalds did not like it. Can you explain to me the big idea of Tivoization?
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Can I use a Apache v2 licensed driver for a commercial project without revealing sources of the project?
I am building a project that will be commercialised. One of the library I use is licensed under Apache v2.
To my understanding, if I modify the library, I need to give the source of the library with ...
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27
votes
1
answer
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How much is "substantial portion" in MIT licence?
MIT license says:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
How much is that substantial portion?
For ...
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6
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5k
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How can I forbid shady resale practices?
From time to time, I come across a website that is clearly selling my MIT-licensed, FOSS project verbatim to unsuspecting buyers under an alternative name. Of course, they do not acknowledge the fact ...
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3
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AGPLv3 source redistribution: when does it apply to my code for a server-side Java app using an AGPL-licensed library?
I have written a Java program designed to run server-side with a plain HTML web interface:
My app is based based on Apache Tomcat and I wrote a bunch of servlets.
I am reusing and I have integrated ...
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17
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1
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How do I license an open source application that uses closed source libraries?
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question since the software I'm developing isn't completely open source, but here goes.
Long story short (and for context), I'm a member of a not-for-...
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1
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What license options do I have for licensing ported source code?
If, I port Ruby on Rails (licensed under MIT) from Ruby to Java what license options do I have? Would I have to use MIT or a compatible license?
user2594
11
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2
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According to the GPL FAQ use within a company or organization is not considered distribution. What is the legal definition of a company/organization?
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InternalDistribution :
Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or company
“distribution”?
No, in that case the organization is just ...
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Am I forced to release my project under GPL, even though no GPL source is included?
Recently I ran into a GPL license related problem and I heard many people claiming many different things. I made this post to get this cleared up for myself.
Situation There is a program which is ...
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1
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Do Contributors Own Copyright After Sending Contributions?
I have a GitHub repository which its license is GPL. Although of this, in the "about" window of my program, I mentioned that I own the copyright (like this: © My name, 2017). And I added the GPL text ...
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How can I use an MIT license for code but protect the copyright of photos in my repository?
My project is a fork of a project that comes with the MIT license and nobody wants to change the license that applies to the software. However, some of the content that is also stored on GitHub is not ...
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3
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Implications of using GPL licenced code only during testing
Let's say I'm working on a software library in which certain unit tests rely on GPL licensed code but the code that a user of this library would install on their system does not interact with GPL ...
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Java and AGPL 3: how far does license extend into web app?
I want to use a java library released by someone else having an AGPL3 license. I'm not modifying their library, but I do link to it using
import com.theirlibrary.methodABC;
in one of my java classes ...
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3
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Dynamic linking, bundling, and GPL
I have a code that is dynamically linked to a GPL library. When I distribute my code in binary form, I do not distribute it with the GPL library, and provide instruction for the user to acquire this ...
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Can I use/distribute LGPL command line software in mine that isn't LGPL?
I've developed a little software that use FFmpeg in command line mode.
To further clarify: My software launch several times ffmpeg.exe that is stored inside the same folder as my .exe.
User never ...
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1
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How do I detect an AGPL violation?
For client side code, even if it is obfuscated or is just a binary, I can imagine there might be ways of doing this, but if I have some server-side AGPL licensed code, how am I supposed to know that ...
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Can I legally use code I found on a forum?
I want to write an R package and release on CRAN. But I have concerns about legal issues: licensing and authorship/ownership.
Code of some functions in the package will be derived from or based on ...
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1
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499
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When does a dependency imply a derivative work?
I'm building a program which gets certain info off the net, makes calculations, then sends the info to the net again. I don't program the 'taking off the net' and 'sending to the net' parts though; ...
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Under what conditions can someone dual licence existing works?
When software is diffused under an open-source licence I imagine that a project becomes the "intellectual property" of the community.
However, I'm not clear about this answer in that an author agrees ...
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How could I copyleft a document that contains a substantial amount of both code and prose?
I am writing a document in LaTeX that contains large sections of Python code and output. Typically, I like to license my writing under CC BY-SA 4.0 and my code under GPLv3. I have already placed a CC ...
4
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1
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Can proprietary-licensed software execute shell commands that are probably GPL licensed?
Can proprietary-licensed software (that will be distributed, alongside with the hardware) use GPL software (distributed from package manager)?.
It's basically scientific-measurement-device, that ...
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Can I put a copyright on my website and make the code private when the source code is partially copied from an open source GNU GPL V3 project
I've rewritten my personal website using this https://github.com/bk2dcradle/researcher . I've made some significant changes. Like I did on my previously (built from scratch) website, I'd like to add ...
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