All Questions
4,232
questions
0
votes
1
answer
64
views
How am I expected to list my code's copyright and license under GPLv3?
Naïve question, I know, but what exactly is the standard for licensing code under GLPv3? Where should I list the copyright and the license? What specifically do I include at the top of each source ...
-2
votes
1
answer
298
views
Can I use Apache 2.0 for closed source product?
I have a Product "A" which is a closed source, i.e. the repository is private and wont want to make it as a public repository.
Product "A" can also use/dynamically link Library &...
2
votes
0
answers
51
views
If I start with GPL code then gut out and rewrite a few modules at a time until there's no GPL code left what are my obligations under GPL? [duplicate]
I start with a working GPL project. I wholesale gut out modules and rewrite them from scratch. Sometimes my rewrite would combine a few modules into one module. Other times my rewrite would subdivide ...
4
votes
1
answer
143
views
What is the legal status of a repository that deleted its license?
I created a fork of a repository that hadn't received a commit in ~4 years. Three weeks ago (and after a 7 year hiatus), the repository owner deleted the MIT license in the repository.
The commits I ...
2
votes
1
answer
65
views
Question about PyQt license
I am learning PyQt5 and was reading about it an PySide and I was wondering about something regarding the licensing.
PyQt is available under the GNU GPLv3 and a commercial license.
From my ...
-3
votes
1
answer
54
views
No distribute, only for self modifications license [closed]
I am programming three things, an API, an Android app, and a front-end web React app.
The whole system will be sold to a company for money, I have no problem with them modifying the source code to fit ...
5
votes
3
answers
292
views
Sell expiring licenses for GPL software?
I know that you can commercialize GPL'ed software by selling it under the condition that you distribute the source code with the sold product.
I'm now thinking about the case where you don't sell a ...
3
votes
1
answer
108
views
Doubts with CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 learning material
I have access to a learning material(docs/solutions) which is licensed under XYZ Training - ABC Product Copyright (C) 2019 - 2021 XYZ. All rights reserved. The software in this package is published ...
5
votes
1
answer
415
views
Commercialize Linux Application with SPIDEV
I want to use SPIDEV (https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/spi/spidev) via direct I/O access from the userland. I believe that I have the legal right to commercialize an application using SPIDEV ...
1
vote
1
answer
100
views
Do I have to remove the license on zLib-licensed code project in order for it to be integrated into a GPL3, Apache2 or MIT-licensed codebase?
As the title states, if I take one code project that is under a zlib license, and incorporate it into a GPL3, Apache2 or MIT-licensed codebase, do I have to remove the license from the code project ...
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How can I judge the "strength" of a licence?
A quote from the FOSSA blog, How to Apply a License to Your Open Source Software Project:
In a nutshell, if your dependencies are distributed under open source
licenses different than the one you are ...
4
votes
1
answer
89
views
Can code that has been given under the WTFPL license and then changed to GPL be changed to anything again after that?
I gave a friend of mine a piece of code that I wrote that I put under the WTFPL license. This was only available in private, between him and me.
He took it and published it and changed the license to ...
15
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Am I allowed to convert some functions from a GPLv2 project and use it in a commercial project?
I have a very vague impression regarding the GPLv2 license that any project which borrows code from a GPL project needs to be open source too. Now I have a situation that I read part of a GPL project'...
1
vote
2
answers
95
views
Is the PDF output of LaTeX code licensed under GPLv3 also covered?
I have seen the similar question here Does "the GPL doesn't cover the ouput of a program" also apply if...... However, I think the use of LaTex to write a book with code examples that were ...
2
votes
1
answer
41
views
Does CC BY-SA 4.0 license apply to statistical analysis based on code blocks in CC BY-SA 4.0 licensed document?
I am planning on writing a science text under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. The text will contain code blocks for commonly preformed analysis from the relevant field of study. Additionally, it will use ...
2
votes
1
answer
37
views
How do I add contributors to the attribution/ownership part of the CC BY-SA 4.0 licensing statement of my work?
The manuscript I will be working on is an original work that I am currently starting by myself. I am writing the work in LaTex, and the manuscript will have code blocks included within the text. I ...
2
votes
1
answer
89
views
Do I need QT Commercial License for annotation tool?
I'm going to make an annotation tool for deep learning using PyQT.
Trained models are sold on the product.
My annotation tool is not sold with the product.
so, Customer can't see my annotation tool.
...
3
votes
1
answer
72
views
What is the correct way to hire someone to create open source assets?
I'd like to hire artists to create some assets for an open source game project. I'd like all the assets I use to also be released under a compatible open source/free content license (e.g. Creative ...
1
vote
0
answers
125
views
Why exactly is NirSoft's software not open source? [closed]
Apologies if this type of question isn't allowed here, but I am quite curious about this.
If you don't know, NirSoft is some sort of dev that has created a lot of software for use on Windows primarily....
3
votes
1
answer
140
views
Contributing own code partially relying on a LGPL-3 python module, on an Apache2 Project?
My goal is to make a contribution to an open source Python project hosted on GitHub, which has an Apache 2.0 license. To do so, I wrote a few lines of code. However for a specific feature of my ...
5
votes
2
answers
197
views
Adding user contributed code to repository under GNU GPL 3.0 License
I have a project that I created and released under the GNU GPL License v3.0. Today a user of the software contacted me and presented me with a list of improvements and the code necessary to implement ...
0
votes
2
answers
86
views
Does every distributor of unchanged opensource software become a licensor?
I would answer the question with yes. Because:
First licensor A gives B software under opensource license. A wants to have anything to do with it anymore and is not permitted to revoke. B distributes ...
1
vote
0
answers
47
views
Are works created using GPLv2 licensed code considered derivative of the code? [duplicate]
Consider that I write some code which generates 3D models, and release it using the GPLv2 license. Someone else then sees value in my code but wishes to change it and so they modify it to their ...
32
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Why does GPLv2 include a mailing address (51 Franklin Street) in the license notice?
The last paragraph of the GPL v2 notice reads:
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 ...
-2
votes
1
answer
79
views
Is this license compatible with LGPL? [duplicate]
https://github.com/asianirish/common-potato/blob/master/LICENSE.txt
The text of the license:
You can use this code freely as long as you completely agree with the text of this license and include this ...
1
vote
1
answer
87
views
Usage and compatibility of AGPL in the context of permissive licensed dependencies
I figured it's time to add a license to a project I've been working on for some time. I'm interested in a copy-left license. The project is a web application that can be built and self-hosted on a &...
5
votes
1
answer
88
views
Copyright notices in a forked AGPL codebase
My workplace uses an open source project with an AGPL 3.0 license. It's been abandoned as far as I can tell – no commits for 5 years aside from a handful of contributed pull requests (the most recent ...
1
vote
1
answer
59
views
Copy license terms from other product?
This might not be a very "open source" question, but I thought I might find in this forum the right people for the question.
For a mortal human being creating a PDF with the license terms ...
4
votes
2
answers
152
views
Does the GPL apply to my files that are used alongside (no part of) a GPL item
I wrote an simple addon/xml theme for some software that is GPL licensed.
No modifications were ever made to the GPL licensed code during this time.
Someone took one of my images and is claiming that ...
17
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Legal wording to exempt bug fixes to open-source framework from NDA?
Attempting to hire contractors to develop code using open-source framework with Apache 2.0 license.
In reviewing our legal contract, the contractors are hesitant to sign because they want to donate ...
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Who owns copyright if I place code in a repository but do not update the copyright notice?
I think my case is covered by Who will be the copyright owner of a new file in a forked repository on github?, but I want to be sure that it applies in my situation, too.
I forked a project licensed ...
20
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Contributor asking to remove their contributions
I have a project licensed under the LGPL-3.0. A major contributor recently stopped contributing, and is now requesting all their contributions to be removed from the project. All the code in the ...
1
vote
0
answers
81
views
Credit Bootstrap on website
I am creating a website using Bootstrap.
Do I need to credit Bootstrap since it has MIT license?
If so, how can I do that?
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How is the wow.js fork free, while the original project is not free?
I searched for a library to manage browser scrolling. I came upon https://wowjs.uk/.
If you look at the bottom, it says it's free, and on its GitHub page the license is MIT.
However, it's a project ...
3
votes
0
answers
144
views
Are you required to license code under GPL if you're using TypeScript types from a GPL library?
I'm currently using a library that was licensed under the GNU General Public License (particularly GPL v3.0). This library consists mostly of types for software that is also under the GPL (but not ...
9
votes
1
answer
992
views
How do I deal with authorship after a fork?
I've forked the protpy package into propy3 in order to make it usable for Python 3 users. I'm not a user of that package myself and have no clue of protein computations. However, in order to make it ...
6
votes
2
answers
585
views
Open source licenses and royalties
Many projects, e.g. GitLab, BitWarden, EasyRedmine, use open source software licenses. Their code is publicly available, and the services can be self-hosted.
Of course they can charge users for ...
2
votes
1
answer
104
views
Share-alike style License for data that will be used to train machine learning models
I have a dataset I would like to publish - it is likely people will want to use this dataset to train machine learning models. I would like to ensure that any models trained using this dataset are ...
20
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Is it legal for the author of an open source project to remove history of contributors' commits?
I am new to open-source world. I have contributed some code to an open-source project licensed under GPLv3 but with no contributor agreement license.
Is it legal for the original author to upload the ...
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Can a company license frontend software developed with open source frameworks?
Can a company license frontend components developed using open source javascript(JS) frameworks(e.g. Vue, React or Next JS) that are downloaded and accessible anytime a user accesses the site that ...
9
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is unDraw really "open source"?
unDraw is a website providing free SVG graphics. It advertises itself as having an "open-source" license. But looking at its license, I have doubts, so I'm asking here.
All images, assets ...
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
License for donating software to not for profit - non exclusive [closed]
I am doing some voluntary programming work for a not for profit - and it will be far faster if I re-use several thousand lines of boilerplate code I have previously written for commercial projects ...
2
votes
0
answers
55
views
Using code licensed under an MIT license with code licensed under the GPL [duplicate]
Say I have a repository that uses the GPL and I want to include code from a repository under the MIT license. I found here that MIT and GPL licensed code can be freely combined; however, I am unsure ...
0
votes
1
answer
46
views
Should I provide my source code if I use GPL source code combined into my subscription service code?
I've looked at other topics related to this question, but mine is quite different from others so I'm not sure about the answer.
Let's say I am building a website that will provide SAAS for users. In ...
2
votes
1
answer
252
views
Can i modify a GPL v3 project and distribute it under GPL v3 license with my name?
Hello i was making a c plus plus program and the program uses some files of a project licensed under GNU GPL Version 3.0
When the program( i created) completes and i license it under GPL v3.
Below is ...
6
votes
2
answers
929
views
How is 'commercial use' of software defined?
Licenses often distinguish between commercial use and non-commercial use. I found different sources discussing this topic:
What is commercial and non-commercial?
What Does Commercial Software Mean?
...
2
votes
1
answer
57
views
Is there a special tooling that github linguist is using for third party software licensing?
I am studying how other libraries handle third party software licensing.
I noticed that github linguist has a separate folder called vendor and inside it uses git submodules and yaml files https://...
0
votes
1
answer
83
views
Proprietary command-line tool with GPL/LGPL GUI
Suppose that I created a command-line tool with a proprietary license.
If I create a GUI, for the command-line tool, using a GPL/LGPL-licensed library/framework such as Qt, does the copyleft apply to ...
0
votes
2
answers
62
views
I have taken concepts from two libraries: 1 using BSD3 license and 1 using Apache 2
I have taken concepts and code snippets from two libraries:
1 using BSD3
1 using Apache 2
and make modifications.
BSD3 says must include copyright and license
Apache 2 says must include copyright, ...
0
votes
1
answer
85
views
If I made a program from following a YouTube tutorial that does not specify a license, can I share it?
I followed a YouTube tutorial where the presenter explains how to make a game that runs in a web browser. The video showed him typing (and explaining) the code. I copied several lines of code. I have ...