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-Updated: January 2, 2001 (http://curl.haxx.se/docs/faq.shtml)
+Updated: January 4, 2001 (http://curl.haxx.se/docs/faq.shtml)
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@@ -467,74 +467,55 @@ FAQ
6. License Issues
- Curl and libcurl are released under the MPL, the Mozilla Public License. To
- get a really good answer to your license conflict questions, you should
- study the MPL license and the license you are about to use and check for
- clashes yourself. This section is just a brief summary for the cases we get
- the most questions. (Parts of this section was much enhanced by Bjorn
- Reese.)
+ NOTE: This section is now updated to concern curl 7.5.2 or later!
- 6.1. I have a GPL program, can I use the libcurl library?
-
- No, unfortunately you cannot distribute the (lib)curl code with your code.
- According to both the Free Software Foundation and the Mozilla
- Organization, MPL and GPL are not compatible, because GPL requires of
- other licenses that they do "not impose any further restrictions on the
- recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein" [GPL paragraph 6] (One
- could argue about which license that actually imposes restrictions, but
- that'll be left for you to ponder about.)
-
- However, you have two alternative options:
-
- 1) Nothing prevents you from distributing your program separately from
- curl and libcurl, and request that the user receives it separately.
- The incompability issues between MPL and GPL only applies to the
- distribution.
+ Curl and libcurl are released under a MIT/X derivate license *or* the MPL,
+ the Mozilla Public License. To get a really good answer to your license
+ conflict questions, you should study the MPL and MIT/X licenses and the
+ license you are about to use and check for clashes yourself. This section is
+ just a brief summary for the cases we get the most questions. (Parts of this
+ section was much enhanced by Bjorn Reese.)
- 2) Add the following exception to your distribution (you must have the
- consent of all the copyright holders of the source code in your
- project in order to do this)
+ 6.1. I have a GPL program, can I use the libcurl library?
- As a special exception, you have permission to link this program
- with the curl library and distribute executables, as long as you
- follow the requirements of the GNU GPL in regard to all of the
- software in the executable aside from curl.
+ Yes!
- This exception must be added to your GPL covered source code files
- immediately after the notification mentioned in the appendix of GPL.
- The wording was originally suggested by the Free Software Foundation
- in relationship with the Qt library. We have changed the wording to
- apply to curl.
+ Since libcurl may be distributed under the MIT/X derivate license, it can be
+ used together with GPL in any software.
6.2. I have a closed-source program, can I use the libcurl library?
- Yes, libcurl does not put any restrictions on the program that uses the
- library. If you end up doing changes to the library, only those changes must
- be made available, not the ones to your program.
+ Yes.
+
+ libcurl does not put any restrictions on the program that uses the
+ library.
6.3. I have a BSD licensed program, can I use the libcurl library?
- Yes, libcurl does not put any restrictions on the program that uses the
- library. If you end up doing changes to the library, only those changes must
- be made available, not the ones to your program.
+ Yes.
+
+ libcurl does not put any restrictions on the program that uses the
+ library.
6.4. I have a program that uses LGPL libraries, can I use libcurl?
- Yes you can. LGPL libraries don't spread to other libraries the same way GPL
- ones do.
+ Yes.
- However, when you read paragraph (3) of the LGPL license, you'll see that
- anyone - at will - may at any time convert that LGPL program into GPL. And
- GPL programs can't be distributed together with MPL programs, neither with
- (lib)curl source code and not as a binary.
+ The LGPL license don't clash with other licenses.
6.5. Can I modify curl/libcurl for my program and keep the changes secret?
- No, you're not allowed to do that.
+ Yes.
+
+ The MIT/X derivate license practically allows you to do almost anything with
+ the sources, on the condition that the copyright texts in the sources are
+ left intact.
6.6. Can you please change the curl/libcurl license to XXXX?
No. We carefully picked this license years ago and a large amount of people
have contributed with source code knowing that this is the license we
use. This license puts the restrictions we want on curl/libcurl and it does
- not spread to other programs or libraries that use it.
+ not spread to other programs or libraries that use it. The recent dual
+ license modification should make it possible for everyone to use libcurl or
+ curl in their projects, no matter what license they already have in use.