Open Source Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [gpl-2]

For questions about GNU General Public License Version 2.

The GPL, or General Public License is a basic software license offered by GNU, which is sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. There are currently three major versions of the license; this tag is for questions specifically about GPL version 2 (GPLv2).

231 questions
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5 answers

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's code and there are around four functions that I…
cHiWa
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12
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2 answers

If I use artwork from a GPLv2 application, does my application have to be GPL as well?

Some time ago I started on a mobile version of a desktop game released under GPLv2. At first, the desktop version was just inspiration, but I've reached the point where I suck as an artist and would like to just re-use the artwork in my game. Would…
Jeff Barger
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9
votes
1 answer

Reusing test input files from GPLv2 project for automated testing

I am writing a filter -- an external program which takes input from the main executable, parses it, potentially modifies it, and outputs the modified data -- for the GPLv2-licensed Pandoc. My filter is MIT-licensed. Pandoc itself has a set of files…
Zev Spitz
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7
votes
1 answer

GPL-2 licensing and commercial software (what rights has the licensee)?

I wanna use a GPL-2 software library which is distributed in two flavors: GPL-2 and a proprietary license. The proprietary license is very expensive though. Currently, there are no real commercial alternatives on the market. Only about 10% of my…
Martin.Martinsson
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6
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1 answer

Do the rights of the developer supersede the rights granted to the end user by the GPLv2 License?

I'm currently involved in a debate on GitHub surrounding a project that is 'GPLv2' licensed and has recently made a change to it's platform requiring new build scripts to be published in order to build the software. The developer is refusing to…
dcrdev
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5
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2 answers

What are the licence implications of including comments from code licensed under GPL v2 in my own code?

I have written a Java class Sequence that presents a similar interface to Stream, but with some changes. For convenience I copied the Javadoc comments from Stream, adapting them as necessary for my own code. I have included a copyright notice…
Hamish Lawson
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4
votes
1 answer

Does GPLv2 allow removing link to original work and adding limitations?

I am a new software developer, so I tend to have works with many open source project on the Internet. I have a few question about the GPL licence, can someone help me to understand them, and if possible, point to where the rule said so in the GPL…
Marzuq Imran
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4
votes
1 answer

GPL2 license header usage in individual files

Im preparing to open source some code Im been working on, and have decided for the GPL2 license. Im wondering what the proper way is to mark code as licensed with this license. looking at the Linux sourcecode I can see that the GPL2 license is…
deepblue
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3
votes
0 answers

Can I make a commercial JAVA GUI interface to a GPL2 licensed R package that I authored?

I authored an R package that will be licensed under GPL2 due to some dependencies that I use also being GPL2. I was wondering if I would be allowed to make a commercial closed source JAVA GUI interface though to use this R package in a user-friendly…
Tom Wenseleers
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3
votes
2 answers

Plugin (consuming GPL V2 licensed binaries) for main application (not GPL)

I want to write a plugin for a software that will not be licensed with GPL. However as this plugin needs to communicate with OPC, I wanted to use the .net standard OPC stack. This 'program' is licensed with GPL V2. My question is whether my plugin…
ShinuSha
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3
votes
1 answer

Binary patches to a GNU GPLv2-licensed executable

I have a library released under a license incompatible with the GPL. That library adds some critical feature to the GPL program that I want to modify. And I also want to make the result available to the public, but without releasing the source of…
feos
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3
votes
1 answer

Complying with MySQL GPLv2

Consider the case of MySQL. This software is Dual-Licensed, of which, one license is GPLv2 the other is a somewhat costly enterprise license. Given the following criterion, what are my obligations? I am deploying a system on an air gapped network…
MaDDaViD123
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3
votes
1 answer

Using a library that is wrongly licensed

Let's say there are 3 people Q A Z . Q makes a GPL library. A uses it and licensed it under the MIT licence purposefully. Z uses A's library in a proprietary, paid-for library and distributes it with over a million downloads when Q realizes and…
rightlifesavecompenthusiast
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3
votes
2 answers

Tivoization and the GPLv2

I have seen several questions on this site regarding tivoization, and how the GPLv3 can prevent it. However, for my particular use case, the GPLv3 actually seems to be more permissive than the GPLv2. That's because the GPLv3 anti-tivoization clause…
Felix G
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2
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1 answer

Is it legal to use the name of an existing GPL-2.0 program, in my own open source project?

I've created some opensource, free to use Javascript tool. Currently, my program operates under a different name(which i want to change). This tool is rather similar to an existing one, that was deprecated by the creators(Their site clearly states…
i.brod
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