Licenses and compatibility
Introduction
This wiki covers licenses for the following purposes, and if they are compatible with the GNU GPL.
"Compatible with the GPL" means that you can combine code released under the other license with code released under the GNU GPL in one larger program.
All GNU GPL versions permit such combinations privately; they also permit distribution of such combinations provided the combination is released under the same GNU GPL version. The other license is compatible with the GPL if it permits this too.
GPLv3 is compatible with more licenses than GPLv2: it allows you to make combinations with code that has specific kinds of additional requirements that are not in GPLv3 itself. Section 7 has more information about this, including the list of additional requirements that are permitted.
The source of this documentation can be found on https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html For further informations about qualifications, whether it is a copyleft license and whether it causes any particular practical problems we recommend to visit this page.
Software Licenses
GPL-Compatible Free Software Licenses
The following licenses qualify as free software licenses, and are compatible with the GNU GPL.
- GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3
- GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2
- GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3
- GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1
- GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL) version 3
- GNU All-Permissive License
- Apache License, Version 2.0
- Artistic License 2.0
- Clarified Artistic License
- Berkeley Database License (a.k.a. the Sleepycat Software Product License)
- Boost Software License
- Modified BSD license
- CeCILL version 2
- The Clear BSD License
- Cryptix General License
- eCos license version 2.0
- Educational Community License 2.0
- Eiffel Forum License, version 2
- EU DataGrid Software License
- Expat License
- Expat No Attribution License
- FreeBSD license
- Freetype Project License
- Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer
- License of the iMatix Standard Function Library
- License of imlib2
- Independent JPEG Group License
- Informal license
- Intel Open Source License
- ISC License
- Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 2.0
- NCSA/University of Illinois Open Source License
- License of Netscape JavaScript
- OpenLDAP License, Version 2.7
- License of Perl 5 and below
- Public Domain
- License of Python 2.0.1, 2.1.1, and newer versions
- License of Python 1.6a2 and earlier versions
- License of Ruby
- SGI Free Software License B, version 2.0
- Standard ML of New Jersey Copyright License
- Unicode, Inc. License Agreement for Data Files and Software
- Unicode License v3
- Universal Permissive License
- The Unlicense
- License of Vim, Version 6.1 or later
- W3C Software Notice and License
- License of WebM
- WTFPL, Version 2
- WxWidgets Library License
- WxWindows Library License
- X11 License
- XFree86 1.1 License
- Zero-clause BSD license
- License of ZLib
- Zope Public License, versions 2.0 and 2.1
GPL-Incompatible Free Software Licenses
The following licenses are free software licenses, but are not compatible with the GNU GPL.
- Affero General Public License version 1
- Academic Free License, all versions through 3.0
- Apache License, Version 1.1
- Apache License, Version 1.0
- Apple Public Source License (APSL), version 2
- BitTorrent Open Source License
- Original BSD license
- CeCILL-B version 1
- CeCILL-C version 1
- Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), version 1.0
- Common Public Attribution License 1.0 (CPAL)
- Common Public License Version 1.0
- Condor Public License
- Eclipse Public License Version 1.0
- Eclipse Public License Version 2.0
- European Union Public License (EUPL) version 1.1
- European Union Public License (EUPL) version 1.2
- Fraunhofer FDK AAC license
- Gnuplot license
- IBM Public License, Version 1.0
- Jabber Open Source License, Version 1.0
- LaTeX Project Public License 1.3a
- LaTeX Project Public License 1.2
- Lucent Public License Version 1.02 (Plan 9 license)
- Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL)
- Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL)
- Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 1.1
- Netizen Open Source License (NOSL), Version 1.0
- Netscape Public License (NPL), versions 1.0 and 1.1
- Nokia Open Source License
- Old OpenLDAP License, Version 2.3
- Open Software License, all versions through 3.0
- OpenSSL license
- Phorum License, Version 2.0
- PHP License, Version 3.01
- License of Python 1.6b1 through 2.0 and 2.1
- Q Public License (QPL), Version 1.0
- RealNetworks Public Source License (RPSL), Version 1.0
- Sun Industry Standards Source License 1.1
- Sun Public License
- License of xinetd
- Yahoo! Public License 1.1
- Zend License, Version 2.0
- Zimbra Public License 1.3
- Zope Public License version 1
Nonfree Software Licenses
The following licenses do not qualify as free software licenses. A nonfree license is automatically incompatible with the GNU GPL.
- No license
- Aladdin Free Public License
- Anti-996 License
- Anti-Capitalist Software License
- Apple Public Source License (APSL), version 1.x
- Artistic License 1.0
- AT&T Public License
- Code Project Open License, version 1.02
- Commons Clause
- CNRI Digital Object Repository License Agreement
- eCos Public License, version 1.1
- The Hippocratic License 1.1
- GPL for Computer Programs of the Public Administration
- Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement (HESSLA)
- Jahia Community Source License
- The JSON License
- Old license of ksh93
- License of Lha
- Llama 3.1 Community License Agreement and Llama 3.1 Acceptable Use Policy
- Microsoft's Shared Source CLI, C#, and Jscript License
- NASA Open Source Agreement
- Oculus Rift SDK License
- Open Public License
- Peer-Production License
- Personal Public License Version 3a
- License of PINE
- Old Plan 9 license
- Scilab license
- Scratch 1.4 license
- Simple Machines License
- Old Squeak license
- Sun Community Source License
- Sun Solaris Source Code (Foundation Release) License, Version 1.1
- Sybase Open Watcom Public License version 1.0
- SystemC “Open Source” License, Version 3.0
- Truecrypt license 3.0
- University of Utah Research Foundation Public License
- YaST License
Licenses For Documentation
The following licenses qualify as Free Documentation licenses.
- GNU Free Documentation License
- FreeBSD Documentation License
- Apple's Common Documentation License, Version 1.0
- Open Publication License, Version 1.0
The following are Nonfree Documentation Licenses
- Open Content License, Version 1.0
- Creative Commons NonCommercial, any version
- Creative Commons Noderivatives, any version
Licenses for Other Works
Licenses for Works of Practical Use besides Software and Documentation
The following licenses qualify as free licenses, and are compatible with the GNU GPL.
- GNU General Public License
The following license qualify as free licenses and are compatible with the FDL.
- GNU Free Documentation License
Free licenses, compatible with the GNU GPL
The following licenses qualify as free licenses, and are compatible with the GNU GPL.
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (a.k.a. CC BY)
Free licenses, incompatible with the GNU GPL and FDL
The following licenses qualify as free licenses, and are incompatible with the GNU GPL.
- Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license (a.k.a. CC BY-SA)
- Design Science License (DSL)
- Free Art License
- Open Database license
Licenses for Fonts
The licenses below apply to an instantiation of a design in a computer file, not the artistic design. As far as we know, an implementation of a design is always copyrightable. The legal status of the artistic design is complex, and varies by jurisdiction.
The following licenses qualify as free licenses, and are compatible with the GNU GPL.
- GNU General Public License
The following licenses qualify as free licenses, and are incompatible with the GNU GPL and FDL.
- Arphic Public License
- License of the ec fonts for LaTeX
- IPA Font License
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
Licenses for Works stating a Viewpoint (e.g., Opinion or Testimony)
Works that express someone's opinion—memoirs, editorials, and so on—serve a fundamentally different purpose than works for practical use like software and documentation. Because of this, we expect them to provide recipients with a different set of permissions: just the permission to copy and distribute the work verbatim. Richard Stallman discusses this frequently in his speeches.
Because so many licenses meet these criteria, we cannot list them all. If you are looking for one to use yourself, however, there are two that we recommend:
- GNU Verbatim Copying License
- Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 4.0 license (a.k.a. CC BY-ND)
Licenses for Designs for Physical Objects
Circuits are meant for practical use, so circuit designs should carry a free license. We recommend releasing them under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. Version 3 was designed for such use.
3D-printer plans for objects meant for practical use should also be free. We recommend the GNU GPL or one of the Creative Commons licenses that are free such as CC-BY or CC-BY-SA.
3D-printer plans for decorative objects are artistic works; any of the Creative Commons licenses is ok for them.
Further Reading
The source of this wiki can be found on https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html