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Questions tagged [license-compatibility]

License compatibility is the comparison of two or more licenses to determine if certain usages and actions can be made. Use this tag if the question would like to determine the compatibility of licenses, or their individual clauses.

Occasionally, software developers may want to combine code from different open sourced programs into one program. The only way for this to happen is for the two licenses to be compatible.

When a license is declared compatible, code licensed under these two licenses may be combined into a single program, given that none of the policies in the two licenses are disobeyed.

Compatible licenses have similar overall ideas (e.g. to make content available to everyone without charge), which make them compatible. If two licenses oppose each other, they cannot be compatible.

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How can I determine if two open source licenses are compatible with each other?

Given two open source projects, each with different licenses, are there metrics or resources I can use to determine if it is legitimate to copy code from one of the projects to the other?
Sparr
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Copyfree Open Innovation License compatibility

I'm interested in the Copyfree Open Innovation License as a simpler alternative to Apache 2.0 (it is a permissive license with an explicit patent grant). But because it's not so popular, not much information is available about it. In particular,…
Tavian Barnes
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Can I have one license cover part of a software and another covering the other half?

Scenario: Lets say I have a software I have been developing. I am about to release it but I first have to apply some licenses. Question: Suppose I want to release part of the software (the code) under one license and the other part, such as…
Trevor Clarke
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GPLv2-Only Compatibiliy

I like to make my work public by using GPLv2-Only. This because its pretty clear with the copyleft: Use my work for whatever purpose you want, but if you change it or make it better, give it back ;-) This of course is my personal opinion and other…
user654789384
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Encrypted behaviour/API keys for continuous integration (Travis)

I have a project on Github that works with some external API. I don't want to publish my key so it's taken from config that is not made public. However, I want to use Travis to run end-to-end tests. Basically I'll encrypt my API key - and maybe…
Daerdemandt
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Regarding an algorithm, its implementation under GPLv3 and permissive licenses

Let's say an algorithm is published and then afterwards it is implemented under GPLv3. Although the algorithm is mostly abstract, it does refer to specifications from a de facto standard in order to do its job. Briefly, the stages are: Algorithm is…
candor
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If data published under CC BY 4.0 is aggregated and published on a repository under GPL 3.0, what is the license

Some organization publishes a dataset yearly, under CC BY 4.0, some other organization now aggregates this data into a single dataset, which they post on their github repository that is under the GPL 3.0 license, it the license of this aggregated…
user29532
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AGPL v3.0 Modified Version Question

Here's a scenario. Let's say Person 1 makes a web app, distributes it under AGPL v3 and keeps the project updated on their GitHub. Person 2 says hey I want to modify your software and so Person 2 modifies it and puts it on their GitHub as well, but…
Issuki
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Distributing binaries under non-GPL license for GPL code?

Let's say there is an analytics suite Foobarize. Authors of it have it released under GPL to promote collaboration and research and advance mankind and all that good stuff. But they would also like to have binaries available under a non-GNU license…
Layman
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FOSS License Compatibility

I have been struggling to understand license compatibility and how it manifests. Two examples: I have a program to which I wrote the codebase. this codebase then dynamically links to two different open source libs - one licensed under Apache v2 and…
paul black
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gpl-3+aiohttp license integrity

I am working on an aiohttp server that will call python modules or shared object libraries. SOME of those modules or so's might be governed by GPL-3 licensing. The parent aiohttp server that does routing to those modules or so's is governed by…
Steve B.
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Licence and requirements for Open Source cryptographic library usage

i am wondering which conditions apply if i want to use an Open Source cryptographic library embedded in a proprietary software. The software will be proprietary and shall implement a digital signature verification. This verification may be…
philippe
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AGPL project with AGPL documentation and templates with CC by-nc-sa 3.0

I am creating a project with an AGPLv3 license. In another repo I am creating the documentation associated to the previous project and the template (in LaTeX) used for the documents is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. I did the template along with…
CarlosMJ
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Can an open-source Java application with the MIT license use Berkeley DB with Affero license?

I'm new to open source, and I'm working on my first Java application, which will be released with the MIT license. I'd like to use Berkeley DB for object persistence. That product uses the GNU Affero General Public License. There seems to be a…
Doc Plaid
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