2 ms·

Ask HN: Can I vendor a GNU GPL package into a MIT project?

2 points by _Marak_ 11y ago

I'm helping maintain a moderately popular open-source project, and we have a pull request which requires that we vendor a single file which is licensed GNU GPL. No modifications will be performed to the GPL file itself, but it will be dynamically required every-time our open-source package is loaded. We don't distribute any binaries, only source code. I have no idea how GPL copyleft works. Will including a single GPL file in the MIT project cause the entire project to be GPL?

cyphar 11y ago
Yes, but it's likely that the whole project would have to be distributed under the GNU GPL (unless the GPL parts are removed). If you're only using it internally, it doesn't matter.
- _Marak_ 11y ago
  That is what I was afraid of. I don't want five years of collective MIT work to suddenly turn into GPL. Here is the issue at hand: https://github.com/Marak/faker.js/pull/258 https://github.com/Marak/faker.js/pull/258 I've requested the original author provide dual licensing. We are also searching for alternative implementations.
  - cyphar 11y ago
    Looking at the example, the cc generator code is so small that one couldn't reasonably consider it to be a significant enough program. In general, I don't like license FUD (who's actually going to sue you) but given how trivial the code is, surely you can reimplement your own version of a ~100 line script?
belorn 11y ago
No, it will not cause the entire project to be GPL. The part that is GPL will have to be GPL, and everything else need to be compatible with GPL in order to satisfy the conditions of the license. MIT is compatible, so there is no problem. Going forward, no changes need to be done to the projects license, people can still submit patches under MIT, and so on. There is a minor consideration. If someone forks your MIT project and puts it into a proprietary product, then the GPL file need to be removed.

2 ms·

Ask HN: Can I vendor a GNU GPL package into a MIT project?

2 points by _Marak_ 11y ago

cyphar 11y ago
Yes, but it's likely that the whole project would have to be distributed under the GNU GPL (unless the GPL parts are removed). If you're only using it internally, it doesn't matter.
- _Marak_ 11y ago
  That is what I was afraid of. I don't want five years of collective MIT work to suddenly turn into GPL. Here is the issue at hand: https://github.com/Marak/faker.js/pull/258 https://github.com/Marak/faker.js/pull/258 I've requested the original author provide dual licensing. We are also searching for alternative implementations.
  - cyphar 11y ago
    Looking at the example, the cc generator code is so small that one couldn't reasonably consider it to be a significant enough program. In general, I don't like license FUD (who's actually going to sue you) but given how trivial the code is, surely you can reimplement your own version of a ~100 line script?
belorn 11y ago
No, it will not cause the entire project to be GPL. The part that is GPL will have to be GPL, and everything else need to be compatible with GPL in order to satisfy the conditions of the license. MIT is compatible, so there is no problem. Going forward, no changes need to be done to the projects license, people can still submit patches under MIT, and so on. There is a minor consideration. If someone forks your MIT project and puts it into a proprietary product, then the GPL file need to be removed.