Re: New program based on 2 differently-licensed previous ones
"Cameron Dale" <camrdale@gmail.com> writes:
> I'm creating a new program for Debian (not just packaging, but the
> entire program), and I have some questions about the license I can
> use. Some parts of the code are based on a previous work released
> under the MIT license
Which MIT license? MIT have released programs under several different
licenses. Even X11 has been released under different (incompatible)
licenses.
I'll assume you mean the terms of the Expat license (the terms of
which are effectively the same as *one* of the MIT licenses).
> while some other small parts are based on GPL (v2) code from a
> different work. My questions are these:
>
> 1) Can I release the entire program under the GPL?
The Expat license explicitly grants permission to sublicense the work,
so your combined work can be licensed under the GPL.
The terms also require you to retain the original copyright and
license on the work: theoretically any recipient has the right to take
just the Expat-licensed part from your work, and gain all its
permissions.
> 2) Do I NEED to make reference to the other works? Should I?
What are "the other works"? Remember that you have no right (modulo
fair use in your jurisdiction, which won't be much) to redistribute
nor sublicense except what is explicitly granted in the license terms,
so check those.
> 3) Can I remove the headers in the files that I have modified that
> state the original authors and licenses of the files?
See above. Copyright in those works doesn't transfer to you; if you
want to do anything reserved to the copyright holder, you may only do
so on their terms.
--
\ “If sharing a thing in no way diminishes it, it is not |
`\ rightly owned if it is not shared.” —Saint Augustine |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
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