What does it mean to say that two licenses are “compatible”?
• What does it mean to say a license is “compatible with the GPL”? • I am writing free software that uses non-free libraries. What legal issues come up if I use the GPL? • How do I get a copyright on my program in order to release it under the GPL? • What if my school might want to make my program into its own proprietary software product? • Could you give me step by step instructions on how to apply the GPL to my program? • Could you give me step by step instructions on how to apply the GFDL to a manual? • I heard that someone got a copy of a GPL’ed program under another license. Is this possible? • I would like to release a program I wrote under the GNU GPL, but I would like to use the same code in non-free programs. • Is the developer of a GPL-covered program bound by the GPL? Could the developer’s actions ever be a violation of the GPL? • Can the developer of a program who distributed it under the GPL later license it to another party for exclusive use? • Can I use GPL-covered edit
In order to combine two programs (or substantial parts of them) into a larger work, you need to have permission to use both programs in this way. If the two programs’ licenses permit this, they are compatible. If there is no way to satisfy both licenses at once, they are incompatible. For some licenses, the way in which the combination is made may affect whether they are compatible–for instance, they may allow linking two modules together, but not allow merging their code into one module.
In order to combine two programs (or substantial parts of them) into a larger work, you need to have permission to use both programs in this way. If the two programs’ licenses permit this, they are compatible. If there is no way to satisfy both licenses at once, they are incompatible. For some licenses, the way in which the combination is made may affect whether they are compatible–for instance, they may allow linking two modules together, but not allow merging their code into one module. ȨЭǡ ġʲô˼ Ϊ˺ϲ ǵһ֣һ͵ϵ ҪõôʹȨЭôǾǼ ġû취ȷǾDz ġ һЩȨЭ飬ķʽӰǷݣ磬ǿģһ ѴϲһģС What does it mean to say a license is “compatible with the GPL”. It means that the other license and the GNU GPL are compatible; you can combine code released under the other license with code released under the GNU GPL in one larger program. The GPL permits such a combination provided it is released under the GNU GPL. The other license is compatible with the GPL if it permits this too.
