18
votes
Accepted
Does modified server code, used in public website development, which is originally available under GPL2 have to be released to the public?
No, you do not 'distribute copies of free software' so you are not required to provide source code. This is how many service providers are able to integrate GPL-licensed code with their proprietary ...
- 453
9
votes
Does modified server code, used in public website development, which is originally available under GPL2 have to be released to the public?
Using modified GPL-licensed software on the server side for services is unproblematic in terms of licensing. You do not distribute the software and you can do on your machine whatever you want without ...
- 10.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Open source program - commercial compiler?
There is no requirement that the compiler has to be open sourced.
Only the build scripts like Makefiles, CMakeLists.txt, Maven POM have to be open sourced.
If the compiler is not open source, somebody ...
- 2,058
7
votes
Accepted
Can I accept donations under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0?
Version 4 of this license has pulled out the NonCommercial definition into a separate paragraph, which reads as follows:
NonCommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial ...
- 5,132
6
votes
Is the GNU All-Permissive License suitable for source code?
Legally, you can license your code under any license you feel like, even one which doesn't make sense: for example, you could license a piece of music under the Open Database License. In some cases, ...
- 18.6k
5
votes
Can CC-BY-SA code be removed from a larger code base and not have the remaining code bear the CC-BY-SA license?
My concern would be that if I, at one stage of a project, used a little snippet of CC-BY-SA code, my entire project would have to be CC-BY-SA
That is so, as it is with most copyleft licences.
even ...
- 47k
5
votes
Is it a GPL violation to provide source code in a format that can only be opened or "compiled" with non-free software?
As long as the source code is readable for the recipients (i.e. not encrypted or password protected, not obfuscated) and actually qualifies according to the definition in the license language, it is ...
- 7,079
4
votes
License for JavaScript which doesn't permit minification?
There are no (open-source) licenses that meet your requirements and I am not sure if it is possible to write a license for them at all.
The inclusion of the license in distributing the JS library, ...
4
votes
copyrights when learning from licensed code and then applying that knowledge to write your own code
It shouldn't be copyright infringement, per 17 USC 102(b) in the US. "Idea[s], [...] concept[s], principle[s and] discover[ies]" are not subject to copyright protection. While this text is ...
- 5,132
3
votes
Accepted
Can CC-BY-SA code be removed from a larger code base and not have the remaining code bear the CC-BY-SA license?
My concern would be that if I, at one stage of a project, used a little snippet of CC-BY-SA code, my entire project would have to be CC-BY-SA, even if the original CC-BY-SA snippet was removed.
I ...
3
votes
Can I accept donations under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0?
Creative Commons published their interpretation of 'Non-Commercial' in their FAQ and in a wiki page. However, these pages do not clarify your specific question about donations.
There is a long article ...
- 7,079
1
vote
copyrights when learning from licensed code and then applying that knowledge to write your own code
Copyright law protects tangible expression, and not the idea itself.
So, if one learns techniques or knowledge from open source software, and then rewrite on their own, without copying code, that is ...
- 2,058
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible