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0 pointspanzi2y ago0 comments

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?

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Y_Y2y 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...

dragonwriter2y 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.)

ssddanbrown2y 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).

belorn2y 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.

panziOP2y 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?

kmacleod2y ago

Confirming what panzi is saying here, ssddanbrown you do not need to relicense your work. GPL and MIT are compatible. GPL only requires that you distribute the _combined_ work as GPL. So, your github project remains MIT and others can use your code under that license, but when _they_ link to TinyMCE and distribute, that distribution must include source code and also be licensed GPL as a whole.

teddyh2y ago

The “user-does-the-linking” theoretical loophole has been discussed to death on Usenet for decades. The opinion of the FSF (as advised by their lawyers), and the general consensus, is that does not work. If a program A is designed to work connected to, and only connected to, a GPL program B, then program A is considered to be a derived work of A, as evidenced by its unusable state without B.

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