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0 pointsssddanbrown2y ago0 comments

That's definitely an option, but I originally chose the MIT due to the simplicity & low friction/requirement for users, and for me it'd be a shame to change that, especially as it could impact users that have been using my software over the last 8 years. While I've gained a lot of understand & respect for GPL licenses over the years of being involved in open source, I'd still have a preference for MIT for this particular project for the reasons I originally chose it.

Feels a bit annoying to change the licensing (and philosophy) of my project based upon a change from a dependency (but to be clear I respect their right to change license, and the value they've provided us to this point). Additionally, due to their licensing changes/hijinks over the years, I'm not overly confident there wouldn't be more changes ahead in favour of proprietary enterprise offerings.

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panzi1y ago

I thought when your program/library has a more permissive license you can use a GPL library without changing your license. You just need to make this clear so that someone using your code knows that it also pulls in GPL code and thus they cannot be more restrictive (e.g. closed source) than GPL. Only your program will be MIT licensed, the GPL library stays GPL of course. (And since MIT is more permissive anyone can fork your code and put it under GPL.) Did I misunderstand anything?

Y_Y1y ago

There are subtleties, but what I inferred from OP's post was that they modify or extend TinyMCE's code and that they don't want to relicense the modifications. If you just use TinyMCE without modification as a non-essential part of a larger whole it should be fine [0].

[0] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#GPLInProprietar...

dragonwriter1y ago

> I thought when your program/library has a more permissive license you can use a GPL library without changing your license.

No, if it meets the definition of a single work (which is the only time the GPL has an effect on licensing the other material at all), the whole thing must licensed under the GPL. Within certain bounds, to allow compatibility, additional restrictions from the upstream licenses may be imposed, and for things you own you may give additional pernissions (but you cannot add permissions to upstream software included, and downstream licensors under the GPL can remove your additional permissions.)

ssddanbrownOP1y ago

That's generally what LGPL is. It does get a bit murky outside of standard compiled applications though.

Otherwise, I think it's generally the other way around. Permissive can be used in stronger copy-left licenses, but strongly copyleft libraries can't be used (there's a lot of detail skipped when it comes to what counts as "used" here) in works provided under a more permissive library since a permissive license doesn't provide the terms required by the strong copyleft license (which generally try to ensure freedom of the code, which permissive licenses don't do so well).

belorn1y ago

You can always make two versions, one with TinyMCE and one without. The one without can be any license you want, while the one with TinyMCE would be provided under GPL.

One way many programs do in that situation is to redesign the program with plugins in mind. Those that wish to use a strict set of MIT parts can choose to do so, and those who do not care about licenses can use all parts. A alternative way some program do is to use compile flags, like ffmpeg.

It depend of course how heavily tied to TinyMCE your work is, and if multiple versions are worth it. Forking is always a possibility, but unless there is zero threat vectors I would not go that route.

panzi1y ago

To me "used in" makes not much sense and I think of it as "used together with", but I might be wrong. Just because main() comes from that one object file and not the other, does that really make so much difference? In my assumption you just have to provide the source and clearly state which parts are under which license. Anyone can fork your MIT code and base their GPL program on it anyway. So providing your program part as MIT should be fine?

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c0l02y ago

Unless your users are of the kind who re-distribute your work (or something containing/extending your work - mostly aka software developers) all the time, switching from MIT to GPL is going to be just about no hassle at all to them.

ssddanbrownOP1y ago

Yeah, it wouldn't affect most users, but some users will be in that group. Plus it may (stupidly) raise legal term alerts for a portion of users it won't affect. As I said, is an option but one with concerns/considerations as per my last comment.

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panzi1y ago

Y_Y1y ago

[0] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#GPLInProprietar...

dragonwriter1y ago

> I thought when your program/library has a more permissive license you can use a GPL library without changing your license.

ssddanbrownOP1y ago

That's generally what LGPL is. It does get a bit murky outside of standard compiled applications though.

belorn1y ago

You can always make two versions, one with TinyMCE and one without. The one without can be any license you want, while the one with TinyMCE would be provided under GPL.

panzi1y ago

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c0l02y ago

ssddanbrownOP1y ago

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