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Revision as of 20:25, 16 July 2021

Author: Tom 'spot' Callaway (based on many other documents, correspondence with the FSF)
Revision: 2.53
Initial Draft: Wednesday May 30, 2007
Last Revised: Wednesday August 19, 2020

Overview

The goal of the Fedora Project is to work with the Linux community to create a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from Free and Open Source software.

All software in Fedora must be under licenses in the Fedora licensing list . This list is based on the licenses approved by the Free Software Foundation , OSI and consultation with Red Hat Legal.

In addition, all acceptable licenses for Fedora (including copyright, trademark, and patent licenses) must be applicable not only to Red Hat or Fedora, but also to all recipients downstream. This means that any "Fedora-only" licenses, or licenses with specific terms that Red Hat or Fedora meets but that other recipients would not are not acceptable (and almost certainly non-free, as a result).

If code is multiple licensed, and at least one of the licenses is approved for Fedora, that code can be included in Fedora under the approved license(s) (but only under the terms of the approved license(s)).

Package Licensing Guidelines

Fedora has a separate set of Licensing Guidelines which describe, in detail, how to note the license of a package in the RPM Spec file.

Discussion of Licensing

Discussion of Licensing in Fedora (along with any other Fedora legal items which are not considered confidential) takes place on the legal@lists.fedoraproject.org mailing list. The list is open to any interested subscribers, but is moderated such that only subscribers may directly post.

You can subscribe to the mailing list and view the archives here: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/legal

Keep in mind that the legal@ mailing list is not the place to send any correspondence of a confidential nature, nor is it a source for legal advice. You should not assume that any member of the legal@ mailing list is a lawyer.

License Changes

A license change in a package is a very serious event - it has as many, if not more, implications for related packages as ABI changes do.

Therefore, if your package changes license, even if it just changes the license version, it is required that you announce it on fedora-devel-list.

Note that any license change to a more restrictive license or license version may affect the legality of portions of Fedora as a whole; ergo, FESCo reserves the right to block upgrades of packages to versions with new licenses to ensure the legal distribution of Fedora.

Please contact FESCo if you have any questions.

License of Fedora SPEC Files

All original Fedora contributions are governed by the Fedora Project Contributor Agreement (FPCA). This means that unless a spec file contains an explicit license attribution within it, it is available under the terms of the MIT license.

Since every Fedora SPEC file is contributed by FPCA signers, every Fedora SPEC is available under these license terms (unless otherwise explicitly licensed).

Software Types

There are some specific software types worth mentioning from a licensing/legal perspective.

Shareware

Shareware applications are not Open Source code, and are not acceptable for Fedora.

However, it is worth noting that some non-executable content exists that is required to make Open Source applications functional. An example of this would be open sourced game engines, such as Doom, Heretic, and Descent. These game engines come with freely distributable shareware gamedata files.

In this case, the gamedata files can be packaged and included in Fedora, as long as the files meet the requirements for binary firmware .

Patented Software

If a package contains code covered by known patents, then you should seek a written patent grant (and include that grant inside the package) before submitting it for Fedora. This is especially important for GPL/LGPL licensed packages, because of the following clause (from GPLv2): 

For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution
of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you,
then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain
entirely from distribution of the Program.

It isn't safe to assume that the patent holder permits royalty-free redistribution, you need to get it in writing.

Emulators

Some emulators (applications which emulate another platform) are not permitted for inclusion in Fedora. These rules will help you determine if an emulator is acceptable for Fedora.

  • Emulators which depend on firmware or ROM files to function may not be included in Fedora, unless the copyright holder(s) for the firmware/ROM files give clear permission for the firmware/ROM files to be distributed (either under a Fedora permissible license or under the Fedora firmware exception criteria). Note: This only covers the situation where an emulator will not run at all without firmware/ROM files. For example, emulators that compile and run, but ship with no game ROMs are not covered by this rule.
  • Emulators must not ship with any ROM files (e.g. games) unless those ROM files are available under a Fedora permissible license and have been built from source code in the Fedora buildsystem.
  • Emulators must not point to any third-party sites which provide firmware or ROM files that are distributed without the clear and explicit permission of their copyright holders.
  • All other Fedora licensing and packaging rules apply to emulators.

QEMU ROMs

Whenever possible, ROMS implementing BIOS or Firmware for QEMU system targets must be built from source on the intended architecture. However, in many situations, this is not practical or possible. As a special exception for those situations where it is not practical or possible, prebuilt binary ROMS implementing BIOS or Firmware for QEMU system targets may be included in Fedora Packages, as long as the corresponding source code is also included in the Source RPM package.

Binary Firmware

Some applications, drivers, and hardware require binary-only firmware to boot Fedora or function properly. Fedora permits inclusion of these files as long as they meet the following requirements:

Requirements:

  • The files are non-executable within the Fedora OS context (note: this means that the files cannot run on their own, not that they are just chmod -x)
  • The files are not libraries, within the Fedora OS context.
  • The files are standalone, not embedded in executable or library code (within the Fedora OS context).
  • The files must be necessary for the functionality of open source code being included in Fedora OR to enable Fedora to boot on a specific device, where no other reliable and supported mechanisms exist.
  • The files are available under an acceptable firmware license, which is included with the files in the packaging.

The Fedora Project considers a firmware license acceptable if:

  • it allows some form of royalty-free use, subject to restrictions that the Fedora Project has determined are acceptable for firmware licenses (see below), and
  • it does not restrict redistribution in ways that would make a software license unacceptable under Fedora licensing guidelines, except by:
    1. requiring that the firmware be redistributed only as incorporated in the redistributor's product (or as a maintenance update for existing end users of the redistributor's product), possibly limited further to those products of the redistributor that support or contain the hardware associated with the licensed firmware; and
    2. requiring the redistributor to pass on or impose conditions on users that are no more restrictive than those authorized by this Fedora firmware licensing policy.

A non-exhaustive list of restrictions on use that Fedora considers acceptable for firmware licenses are:

  1. any restrictions that are found in software licenses that are acceptable for Fedora;
  2. prohibitions on modification;
  3. prohibitions on reverse engineering, disassembly or decompilation;
  4. restricting use to use in conjunction with the hardware associated with the firmware license.

If you are unsure whether or not your files meet these requirements, ask on fedora-devel-list, and we will examine them for you.

The License tag for any firmware that disallows modification must be set to: "Redistributable, no modification permitted"

Firmware packages must be named <foo>-firmware, where <foo> is the driver or other hardware component that the firmware is for. In cases of firmware used to boot Fedora on a device, <foo> must be the type of device(s) that the firmware is intended for (e.g. raspberrypi).

Frequently Asked Questions

Fedora has a Licensing FAQ page, with frequently asked questions related to licensing (and answers!).

Software License List

These lists are not intended to be all inclusive, there are surely other licenses out there which are not categorized here. However, if a license of relevance to you is not listed here, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post).

Good Licenses

Here is a list of Software Licenses that are OK for Fedora. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post).

Full Name Short Name FSF Free? GPLv2 Compat? GPLv3 Compat? Upstream URL
3dfx Glide License Glide Yes NO NO http://www.users.on.net/~triforce/glidexp/COPYING.txt
4Suite Copyright License ASL 1.1 Yes NO NO http://4suite.org/COPYRIGHT
Abstyles License Abstyles Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Abstyles
Academic Free License AFL Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences BSD AMPAS BSD Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#AMPASBSD
Adobe Systems Incorporated Source Code License Agreement Adobe Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AdobeLicense
Adobe Postscript AFM License APAFML Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AdobePostscriptAFM
Adobe Glyph List License MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT#AdobeGlyph
Affero General Public License 1.0 AGPLv1 Yes NO http://www.affero.org/oagpl.html
Affero General Public License 3.0 AGPLv3 Yes NO Sortof http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
Affero General Public License 3.0 or later AGPLv3+ Yes NO Sortof http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
Affero General Public License 3.0 with Zarafa trademark exceptions AGPLv3 with exceptions Yes NO Sortof http://www.zarafa.com/content/affero-gplv3
Afmparse License Afmparse Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Afmparse
Amazon Digital Services License ADSL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AmazonDigitalServicesLicense
AMD's plpa_map.c License AMDPLPA Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AMD_plpa_map_License
ANTLR Software Rights Notice ANTLR-PD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ANTLR-PD
Apache Software License 1.0 ASL 1.0 Yes NO NO http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.0
Apache Software License 1.1 ASL 1.1 Yes NO NO http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1
Apache Software License 2.0 ASL 2.0 Yes NO Yes http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
App::s2p License App-s2p Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/App-s2p
Apple MIT License AML Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Apple_MIT_License
Apple Public Source License 2.0 APSL 2.0 Yes NO http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt
Array Input Method Public License Array Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Array
Artistic (clarified) Artistic clarified Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ArtisticClarified
Artistic 2.0 Artistic 2.0 Yes Yes Yes http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0
Aspell-ru License ARL Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AspellRu
Attribution Assurance License AAL Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/attribution.php
Bahyph License Bahyph Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Bahyph
Barr License Barr Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Barr
Beerware License Beerware Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Beerware
BeOpen Open Source License Agreement Version 1 BeOpen Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BeOpen
Bibtex License Bibtex Yes (but only for tex) NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Bibtex
BitTorrent License BitTorrent Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BitTorrent_Open_Source_License
Boost Software License Boost Yes Yes Yes http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt
Borceux license Borceux Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Borceux
BSD + Patent BSD-2-Clause-Patent Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD-2-Clause-Patent
BSD License (original) BSD with advertising Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#BSDwithAdvertising
BSD with attribution BSD with attribution Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD_with_Attribution
BSD License (no advertising) BSD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#3ClauseBSD
BSD License (two clause) BSD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#2ClauseBSD
BSD Protection License BSD Protection Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD_Protection_License
Computer Associates Trusted Open Source License 1.1 CATOSL Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/ca-tosl1.1.php
CeCILL License v1.1 CeCILL Yes Yes Yes http://www.cecill.info/licences/Licence_CeCILL_V1.1-US.html
CeCILL License v2 CeCILL Yes Yes Yes http://www.cecill.info/licences.en.html
CeCILL-B License CeCILL-B Yes NO NO http://www.cecill.info/licences.en.html
CeCILL-C License CeCILL-C Yes NO NO http://www.cecill.info/licences.en.html
Celtx Public License (CePL) Netscape Yes NO NO http://www.celtx.com/CePL/
CMU License (BSD like) MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT
CNRI License (Old Python) CNRI Yes NO NO http://www.handle.net/python_licenses/python1.6_9-5-00.html
Common Development Distribution License 1.0 CDDL-1.0 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CDDL#CDDL_1.0
Common Development Distribution License 1.1 CDDL-1.1 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CDDL#CDDL_1.1
Common Public License CPL Yes NO NO http://www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html
Condor Public License Condor Yes NO http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/condor-public-license.html
Copyright Attribution Only Copyright only Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CopyrightOnly
CPAL License 1.0 CPAL Yes NO NO https://www.socialtext.net/open/index.cgi?cpal_license_in_wikitext
CP/M License CPM Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CPM
CRC32 License CRC32 Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CRC32
Creative Commons BSD BSD Yes Yes Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BSD/
Creative Commons GNU GPL GPLv2+ Yes N/A See Matrix http://creativecommons.org/choose/cc-gpl
Creative Commons GNU LGPL LGPLv2+ Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://creativecommons.org/choose/cc-lgpl
Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal CC0 Yes Yes Yes http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode
Crossword License Crossword Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Crossword
Cryptix General License BSD Yes Yes Yes http://www.cryptix.org/LICENSE.TXT
Crystal Stacker License Crystal Stacker Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CrystalStacker
CUA Office Public License Version 1.0 MPLv1.1 Yes Compatible if dual licensed with GPL, otherwise Incompatible http://opensource.org/licenses/cuaoffice.php
Cube License Cube Yes No No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Cube
diffmark license diffmark Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/diffmark
DO WHATEVER PUBLIC LICENSE DWPL Yes No No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/DWPL
Do What The F*ck You Want To Public License WTFPL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/WTFPL
DOC License DOC Yes Yes Yes http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE-copying.html
Docbook MIT License DMIT Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/DMIT
Dotseqn License Dotseqn Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Dotseqn
DSDP License DSDP Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/DSDP
dvipdfm License dvipdfm Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/dvipdfm
Eclipse Distribution License 1.0 BSD Yes Yes Yes http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php
Eclipse Public License 1.0 EPL-1.0 Yes NO NO http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
Eclipse Public License 2.0 EPL-2.0 Yes NO NO http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v20.html
eCos License v2.0 eCos Yes Yes Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/ecos-license.html
Educational Community License 1.0 ECL 1.0 Yes Yes Yes http://opensource.org/licenses/ecl1.php
Educational Community License 2.0 ECL 2.0 Yes NO Yes http://www.osedu.org/licenses/ECL-2.0/
eGenix.com Public License 1.1.0 eGenix Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/eGenix.com_Public_License_1.1.0
Eiffel Forum License 2.0 EFL 2.0 Yes Yes Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/eiffel-forum-license-2.html
enna License MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT#enna
Enlightenment License (e16) MIT with advertising Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT_With_Advertising
Entessa Public License Entessa Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/entessa.php
EPICS Open License EPICS Yes Yes Yes http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/license/open.php
Erlang Public License 1.1 ERPL Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ErlangPublicLicense
EU Datagrid Software License EU Datagrid Yes Yes Yes http://www.opensource.org/licenses/eudatagrid.php
European Union Public License 1.1 EUPL 1.1 Yes Yes NO http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7774.html
European Union Public License 1.2 EUPL 1.2 Yes Yes Yes https://opensource.org/licenses/EUPL-1.2
Eurosym License Eurosym Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Eurosym
Fedora Directory Server License GPLv2 with exceptions Yes Yes Yes http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/GPL_Exception_License_Text
Fair License Fair Yes Yes Yes http://opensource.org/licenses/fair.php
feh License MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT#feh
FLTK License LGPLv2 with exceptions Yes Yes Yes http://www.fltk.org/COPYING.php
Fraunhofer FDK AAC License FDK-AAC Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/FDK-AAC
FreeImage Public License MPLv1.0 Yes NO NO http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/freeimage-license.txt
Freetype License FTL Yes NO Yes http://freetype.fis.uniroma2.it/FTL.TXT
FSF All Permissive license FSFAP Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/FSFAP
FSF Unlimited License FSFUL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/FSF_Unlimited_License
FSF Unlimited License (with License Retention) FSFULLR Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/FSF_Unlimited_License#License_Retention_Variant
Giftware License Giftware Yes Yes Yes http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/license.html
GL2PS License GL2PS Yes Yes Yes http://www.geuz.org/gl2ps/COPYING.GL2PS
Glulxe License Glulxe Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Glulxe
GNU General Public License (no version) GPL+ Yes Yes Yes A GPL or LGPL licensed package that lacks any statement of what version that it's licensed under in the source code/program output/accompanying docs is technically licensed under *any* version of the GPL or LGPL, not just the version in whatever COPYING file they include.
GNU General Public License (no version), with Classpath exception GPL+ with exceptions Yes Yes Yes A GPL or LGPL licensed package that lacks any statement of what version that it's licensed under in the source code/program output/accompanying docs is technically licensed under *any* version of the GPL or LGPL, not just the version in whatever COPYING file they include. And if they manage to grant the Classpath exception without specifying a version, you get this strange beast.
GNU General Public License (no version), with font embedding exception GPL+ with exceptions Yes Yes Yes A GPL or LGPL licensed package that lacks any statement of what version that it's licensed under in the source code/program output/accompanying docs is technically licensed under *any* version of the GPL or LGPL, not just the version in whatever COPYING file they include. And if they manage to grant the font embedding exception without specifying a version, you get this strange beast.
GNU General Public License v1.0 only GPLv1 Yes NO NO http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.txt
GNU General Public License v1.0 or later GPL+ Yes Yes Yes Note that this is not GPLv1+, because 1+ is the same as any version.
GNU General Public License v2.0 only GPLv2 Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
GNU General Public License v2.0 only, with Classpath exception GPLv2 with exceptions Yes Yes, if exception is used. Yes, if exception is used. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/GPL_Classpath_Exception
GNU General Public License v2.0 only, with font embedding exception GPLv2 with exceptions Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FontException
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later GPLv2+ Yes N/A See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later, with Classpath exception GPLv2+ with exceptions Yes Yes, if exception is used. Yes, if exception is used. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/GPL_Classpath_Exception
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later, with font embedding exception GPLv2+ with exceptions Yes N/A See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FontException
GNU General Public License v3.0 only GPLv3 Yes See Matrix N/A http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html
GNU General Public License v3.0 only, with Classpath exception GPLv3 with exceptions Yes Yes, if exception is used. N/A https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/GPL_Classpath_Exception
GNU General Public License v3.0 only, with font embedding exception GPLv3 with exceptions Yes See Matrix N/A http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FontException
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later GPLv3+ Yes See Matrix N/A http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, with Classpath exception GPLv3+ with exceptions Yes Yes, if exception is used. N/A https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/GPL_Classpath_Exception
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, with font embedding exception GPLv3+ with exceptions Yes See Matrix N/A http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FontException
GNU Lesser General Public License (no version) LGPLv2+ Yes Yes Yes A GPL or LGPL licensed package that lacks any statement of what version that it's licensed under in the source code/program output/accompanying docs is technically licensed under *any* version of the GPL or LGPL, not just the version in whatever COPYING file they include. Note that this is LGPLv2+, not LGPL+, because version 2 was the first version of LGPL. Note that this license was originally referred to as the GNU Library General Public License v2, but all current versions (v2.1 or newer) of the license are correctly known as the GNU Lesser General Public License.
GNU Lesser General Public License v2 (or 2.1) only LGPLv2 Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html Note that this license was originally referred to as the GNU Library General Public License v2, but all current versions (v2.1 or newer) of the license are correctly known as the GNU Lesser General Public License.
GNU Lesser General Public License v2 (or 2.1), with exceptions LGPLv2 with exceptions Yes See Matrix See Matrix Please be sure that any exceptions are approved by emailing them to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org first.
GNU Lesser General Public License v2 (or 2.1) or later LGPLv2+ Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
GNU Lesser General Public License v2 (or 2.1) or later, with exceptions LGPLv2+ with exceptions Yes See Matrix See Matrix Please be sure that any exceptions are approved by emailing them to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org first.
GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only LGPLv3 Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/lgpl.html
GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only, with exceptions LGPLv3 with exceptions Yes See Matrix See Matrix Please be sure that any exceptions are approved by emailing them to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org first.
GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later LGPLv3+ Yes See Matrix See Matrix http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/lgpl.html
GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later, with exceptions LGPLv3+ with exceptions Yes See Matrix See Matrix Please be sure that any exceptions are approved by emailing them to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org first.
gnuplot License gnuplot Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Gnuplot
Haskell Language Report License HaskellReport Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Haskell_Language_Report_License
Henry Spencer Reg-Ex Library License HSRL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Henry_Spencer_Reg-Ex_Library_License
Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer MIT Yes Yes Yes http://opensource.org/licenses/historical.php
IBM Public License IBM Yes NO NO http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.php
iMatix Standard Function Library Agreement iMatix Yes Yes Yes http://legacy.imatix.com/html/sfl/sfl4.htm#license
ImageMagick License ImageMagick Yes Yes Yes http://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php
Imlib2 License Imlib2 Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Imlib2
Independent JPEG Group License IJG Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/IJG
Inner Net License Inner-Net Yes See notes See notes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Inner_Net_License
Intel ACPI Software License Agreement Intel ACPI Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Intel_ACPI_Software_License_Agreement
Interbase Public License Interbase Yes NO http://www.borland.com/devsupport/interbase/opensource/IPL.html
ISC License (Bind, DHCP Server) ISC Yes Yes Yes http://www.isc.org/downloads/software-support-policy/isc-license/
Jabber Open Source License Jabber Yes NO http://opensource.org/licenses/jabberpl.php
JasPer License JasPer Yes Yes Yes http://www.ece.uvic.ca/~mdadams/jasper/LICENSE
JPython License (old) JPython Yes NO NO http://www.jython.org/license.html
Julius License Julius Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Julius
Knuth License Knuth Yes NO NO http://tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb11-4/tb30knut.pdf
LaTeX Project Public License LPPL Yes NO http://www.latex-project.org/lppl/lppl-1-3a.txt
Latex2e License Latex2e Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Latex2e
Lawrence Berkeley National Labs BSD variant license LBNL BSD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LBNLBSD
LEGO Open Source License Agreement LOSLA Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LOSLA
Leptonica License Leptonica Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Leptonica
Lhcyr License Lhcyr Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Lhcyr
libtiff License libtiff Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/libtiff
Lisp Library General Public License LLGPL Yes Yes Yes http://opensource.franz.com/preamble.html
Logica Open Source License Logica Yes Yes Yes http://opensmpp.logica.com/CommonPart/Download/Download.htm
Lucent Public License (Plan9) LPL Yes NO NO https://opensource.org/licenses/LPL-1.02
MakeIndex License MakeIndex Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MakeIndex
Matrix Template Library License MTLL Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Matrix_Template_Library_License
mecab-ipadic license mecab-ipadic Yes ? http://www.icot.or.jp/ARCHIVE/terms-and-conditions-for-IFS-J.html
Metasploit Framework License (post 2006) BSD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Metasploit_Framework_License
Microsoft Public License MS-PL Yes NO NO http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/licenses.mspx#Ms-PL
Microsoft Reciprocal License MS-RL Yes NO NO http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/licenses.mspx#Ms-RL
midnight License midnight Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/midnight
Minpack Copyright Notice Minpack Yes http://www.netlib.org/minpack/disclaimer
MirOS License MirOS Yes Yes Yes http://mirbsd.de/MirOS-Licence
MIT license (also X11) MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT
MIT +no-false-attribs license MITNFA Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MITNFA
MIT No Attribution (MIT-0) MIT-0 Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT-0
mod_macro License mod_macro Yes NO NO http://www.cri.ensmp.fr/~coelho/mod_macro/mod_macro/LICENSE
Motosoto License Motosoto Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/motosoto.php
Mozilla Public License v1.0 MPLv1.0 Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.0.php
Mozilla Public License v1.1 MPLv1.1 Yes Compatible if dual licensed with GPL, otherwise Incompatible Compatible if dual licensed with GPL, otherwise Incompatible http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.html
Mozilla Public License v2.0 MPLv2.0 Yes Sometimes Sometimes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MPLv2.0
mpich2 License MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT
Mup License Mup Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Mup
MX4J License ASL 1.1 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MX4J
MySQL License GPLv2 with exceptions Yes ? http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/foss-exception.html
Naumen Public License Naumen Yes Yes Yes http://opensource.org/licenses/naumen.php
NCSA/University of Illinois Open Source License NCSA Yes Yes Yes https://otm.illinois.edu/disclose-protect/illinois-open-source-license
Neotonic Clearsilver License ASL 1.1 Yes NO NO http://www.clearsilver.net/license.hdf
NetCDF license NetCDF Yes Yes Yes http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/copyright.html
Nethack General Public License NGPL Yes NO http://opensource.org/licenses/nethack.php
Netizen Open Source License NOSL Yes NO http://bits.netizen.com.au/licenses/NOSL/nosl.txt
Netscape Public License Netscape Yes NO NO http://www.mozilla.org/NPL/NPL-1.0.html
Newmat License Newmat Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Newmat_License
Newsletr License Newsletr Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Newsletr
NIST Software License NISTSL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/NISTSL
Nmap License (not Nmap Public Source License) Nmap Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Nmap
Nokia Open Source License Nokia Yes NO http://opensource.org/licenses/nokia.html
No Limit Public License NLPL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/NLPL
Noweb License Noweb Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Noweb
NRL License BSD with advertising Yes NO http://web.mit.edu/network/isakmp/nrllicense.html
Nunit License MIT with advertising Yes NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Nunit
Open Government License OGL Yes http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
OpenLDAP License OpenLDAP Yes Yes Yes http://www.openldap.org/software/release/license.html
Open Market License OML Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Open_Market_License
OpenPBS License OpenPBS Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OpenPBS
Open Software License 1.0 OSL 1.0 Yes NO NO http://www.opensource.org/licenses/osl-1.0.txt
Open Software License 1.1 OSL 1.1 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OSL1.1
Open Software License 2.0 OSL 2.0 Yes NO NO http://www.nexb.com/license/LICENSE-OSL-2.0.html
Open Software License 2.1 OSL 2.1 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OSL2.1
Open Software License 3.0 OSL 3.0 Yes NO NO http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php
OpenSSL License OpenSSL Yes NO NO http://www.sdisw.com/openssl.htm
OReilly License OReilly Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OReilly
Par License Par Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Par
Perl License GPL+ or Artistic Yes Yes Yes http://dev.perl.org/licenses/
Perl License (variant) GPLv2 or Artistic Yes Yes NO Some perl packages explicitly state GPLv2, only use this license for those cases
Perl License (variant) GPLv2+ or Artistic Yes Yes Yes Some perl packages explicitly state GPLv2+, only use this license for those cases
Perl License (variant) LGPLv2+ or Artistic Yes Yes Yes Some perl packages explicitly state LGPLv2+ (extremely uncommon), only use this license for those cases
Phorum License Phorum Yes NO http://phorum.org/license.txt
PHP License v3.0 PHP Yes NO NO http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt
PlainTeX License PlainTeX Yes (only on TeX, see license page) NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/PlainTeX
Plexus Classworlds License Plexus Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Plexus_Classworlds_License
PostgreSQL License PostgreSQL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/PostgreSQL_License
psfrag License psfrag Yes (but only for tex) NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/psfrag
psutils License psutils Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/psutils
Public Domain Public Domain Yes Yes Yes Being in the public domain is not a license; rather, it means the material is not copyrighted and no license is needed.
Python License Python Yes Yes Yes https://docs.python.org/license.html
Qhull License Qhull Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Qhull
Q Public License QPL Yes NO NO http://doc.qt.digia.com/3.0/license.html
Qwt License 1.0 LGPLv2+ with exceptions Yes Yes Yes http://qwt.sourceforge.net/qwtlicense.html
QuickFix License ASL 1.1 Yes NO NO http://www.quickfixengine.org/quickfix/doc/html/license.html
radvd License radvd Yes See Notes See Notes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/radvd_License
Rdisc License Rdisc Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Rdisc_License
RealNetworks Public Source License V1.0 RPSL Yes NO http://www.opensource.org/licenses/real.php
REX License REX Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/REX
Rice BSD RiceBSD Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Rice_BSD_License
Romio License Romio Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Romio_License
RSA License RSA Yes ? ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/RSA
Rsfs License Rsfs Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Rsfs
Ruby License Ruby Yes Compatible if dual licensed with GPL, otherwise Incompatible http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt
Saxpath License Saxpath Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Saxpath_License
Sequence Library License Sequence Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SequenceLibraryLicense
SCEA Shared Source License SCEA Yes NO NO http://research.scea.com/scea_shared_source_license.html
Scheme Widget Library (SWL) Software License Agreement SWL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SWL
SciTech MGL Public License STMPL Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/STMPL
SCRIP License SCRIP Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SCRIP
Sendmail License Sendmail Yes Compatible if Eric Allman, Sendmail Inc. or the University of California is the copyright holder Compatible if Eric Allman, Sendmail Inc. or the University of California is the copyright holder http://www.sendmail.com/pdfs/open_source/sendmail_license.pdf
SGI Free Software License B 2.0 MIT Yes Yes Yes http://oss.sgi.com/projects/FreeB/SGIFreeSWLicB.2.0.pdf
Sleepycat Software Product License Sleepycat Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Sleepycat
SLIB License SLIB Yes Yes Yes http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~jaffer/SLIB_COPYING.txt
softSurfer License softSurfer Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/softSurfer
SNIA Public License 1.1 SNIA Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SNIA_Public_License
Standard ML of New Jersey License MIT Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MIT
Sun Industry Standards Source License SISSL Yes NO http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/sissl_license.html
Sun Public License SPL Yes NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Sun_Public_License
TCL/TK License TCL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TCL
Teeworlds License Teeworlds Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Teeworlds
Text-Tabs+Wrap License TTWL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TTWL
Thor Public License TPL Yes Compatible if dual licensed with GPL, otherwise Incompatible https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ThorPublicLicense
Threeparttable License Threeparttable Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Threeparttable
Time::ParseDate License TPDL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TPDL
TMate Open Source License TMate Yes NO NO http://svnkit.com/license.html
Tolua License Tolua Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Tolua
TORQUE v2.5+ Software License v1.1 TORQUEv1.1 Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TORQUEv1.1
Transitive Grace Period Public Licence TGPPL Sortof NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TGPPL
Trusted Computing Group License TCGL Sortof Sortof Sortof https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TCGL
Trusster Open Source License TOSL Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/TOSL
Tumbolia Public License Tumbolia Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Tumbolia
UCAR License UCAR Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/UCAR
Unicode Character Database Terms Of Use UCD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/UCD
Unicode License Unicode Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Unicode
Unlicense Unlicense Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Unlicense
Universal Permissive License UPL Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/UPL
Vim License Vim Yes Yes Yes http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/uganda.html
Vita Nuova Liberal Source License VNLSL Yes NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Vita_Nuova_Liberal_Source_License
VOSTROM Public License for Open Source VOSTROM Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/VOSTROM
Vovida Software License v. 1.0 VSL Yes NO http://opensource.org/licenses/vovidapl.php
W3C Software Notice and License W3C Yes Yes Yes http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231
Webmin License Webmin Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Webmin
Wsuipa License Wsuipa Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Wsuipa
wxWidgets Library License wxWidgets Yes Yes Yes http://www.wxwidgets.org/manuals/stable/wx_wxlicense.html
wxWindows Library License v 3.1 wxWindows Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/wxWindows.html
xinetd License xinetd Yes NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Xinetd_License
Xerox License Xerox Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Xerox
XPP License xpp Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/xpp
XSkat License XSkat Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/XSkat_License
Yahoo Public License v 1.1 YPLv1.1 Yes NO NO http://www.zimbra.com/license/yahoo_public_license_1.1.html
Zed License Zed Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Zed
Zend License v2.0 Zend Yes NO http://www.zend.com/license/2_00.txt
Zero-Clause BSD 0BSD Yes Yes Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ZeroClauseBSD
Zope Public License v 1.0 ZPLv1.0 Yes NO NO http://old.zope.org/Resources/License/ZPL-1.1
Zope Public License v 2.0 ZPLv2.0 Yes Yes Yes http://old.zope.org/Resources/License/ZPL-2.0
Zope Public License v 2.1 ZPLv2.1 Yes Yes Yes http://old.zope.org/Resources/License/ZPL-2.1
zlib/libpng License zlib Yes Yes Yes https://zlib.net/zlib_license.html
zlib/libpng License with Acknowledgement zlib with acknowledgement Yes NO NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ZlibWithAcknowledgement

Bad Licenses

These are software licenses which are NOT OKAY for Fedora. Nothing in Fedora is permitted to use these licenses. They're either non-free or deprecated.

Full Name FSF Free? Upstream URL Notes
9wm License (Original) No http://unauthorised.org/dhog/9wm/README The argument that there's a strongly-implied right to modify is unlikely to fly in many countries outside the US. NOTE: 9wm has since been relicensed to MIT.
Adaptive Public License No http://opensource.org/licenses/apl1.0.php
Agere LT Modem Driver License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Agere_LT_Modem_Driver_License
Aladdin Free Public License No http://www.artifex.com/downloads/doc/Public.htm
AMAP License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AMAP_License Additional restrictions are non-free and GPL incompatible
Amazon Software License No http://aws.amazon.com/asl/ Section 3.3 is a clear field-of-use restriction
Apple iTunes License No http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/itunes.pdf No source related permissions
Apple Public Source License 1.0 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Apple_Public_Source_License_1.0
Apple Public Source License 1.1 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Apple_Public_Source_License_1.1
Apple Public Source License 1.2 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Apple_Public_Source_License_1.2
Apple Quicktime License No http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/quicktime.html No source related permissions
Aptana Public License No http://aptana.com/legal/apl/ No permission to redistribute
Artistic 1.0 (original) No http://www.perl.com/pub/a/language/misc/Artistic.html See: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#ArtisticLicense
AT&T Public License No Deprecated license
C/Migemo License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CMigemo
CACert Root Distribution License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CACert_Root_Distribution_License Liability disclaimer is actually use restriction
CodeProject Open License (CPOL) No http://www.codeproject.com/info/cpol10.aspx Unacceptable use restrictions
Commons Clause No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/CommonsClause Commercial use restrictions
eCos Public License, v1.1 No
Eiffel Forum License 1.0 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Eiffel_Forum_License_V1
EMC2 License No http://pauillac.inria.fr/cdrom_a_graver/www/emc2/copyright.htm Commercial use restrictions
European Union Public License v1.0 No http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/eupl Non-free due to Article 13.
Frameworx License No http://opensource.org/licenses/frameworx.php Non-free due to the limitation on charging for "Value-Added Services"
Frontier Artistic License No http://www.spinwardstars.com/frontier/fal.html Non-free for the same reasons as regular Artistic 1.0 License
GPL for Computer Programs of the Public Administration No http://www.celepar.pr.gov.br/modules/conteudo/conteudo.php?conteudo=69
gSOAP Public License No http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~engelen/license.html Please note that while the "gSOAP Public License" is non-free, the "gSOAP Toolkit" is dual licensed as GPLv2 or gSOAP Public License.
Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement No http://www.hacktivismo.com/about/hessla.php
Helix DNA Technology Binary Research Use License No https://helixcommunity.org/beula/ No source permissions, binary EULA
HP Software License Terms No http://h30097.www3.hp.com/hp_sw_license.html No source permissions, binary EULA
IBM Sample Code License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/IBM_Sample_Code_License Use restrictions
Intel IPW3945 Daemon License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Intel_IPW3945_Daemon_License No source permissions, binary EULA
Intel Open Source License Yes http://opensource.org/licenses/intel-open-source-license.php Deprecated license
Jahia Community Source License No http://www.jahia.org/jahia/Jahia/pid/145
JSON License No http://www.json.org/license.html The clause "The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil." is impossible to parse or comply with.
lha license No http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/non-free/l/lha/current/copyright
License Agreement for Application Response Measurement (ARM) SDK No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/ApplicationResponseMeasurementSDKLicense See Notes on license page
Maia Mailguard License No http://www.maiamailguard.org/license.php
MAME License No http://mamedev.org/legal.html Commercial use restrictions
McRae General Public License No https://pgl.yoyo.org/license/ Commercial use restrictions
MeepZor Consulting Public Licence No http://meepzor.com/packages/autoresponder/LICENCE.txt Deprecated, upstream uses ASL 2.0 now
Metasploit Framework License (pre 2006) No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Metasploit_Framework_License
Microsoft's Shared Source CLI/C#/Jscript License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Microsoft_Shared_Source_License
MITRE Collaborative Virtual Workspace License (CVW) N/A http://opensource.org/licenses/mitrepl.php Deprecated license
MSNTP License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MSNTP Commercial use restrictions
mrouted license (old) No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/mrouted
NASA CDF License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/NasaCDF Commercial use restrictions, poorly worded
NASA Open Source Agreement v1.3 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/NASA_Open_Source_Agreement
Nmap Public Source License Version 0.92 (NPSL) https://nmap.org/npsl/npsl-annotated.html The "Proprietary software companies" text in the preamble is a field of use restriction.
OCLC Public Research License 2.0 No http://opensource.org/licenses/oclc2.php Appears to limit the price at which a copy can be charged, not just simply prohibiting imposition of royalties.
Open CASCADE Technology Public License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Open_CASCADE_Technology_Public_License
Open Group Test Suite License No http://opensource.org/licenses/opengroup.php Same flaws as Artistic 1.0
Open Map License No http://openmap.bbn.com/license.html Derived from Artistic 1.0, has same flaws
Open Motif Public End User License No http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/license/ Commercial use restrictions
Open Public License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Open_Public_License
OSGi Specification License No http://www.osgi.org/Main/OSGiSpecificationLicense Forbids modification
Paul Hsieh Derivative License No http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/license-derivative.html
Paul Hsieh Exposition License No http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/license-exposition.html
Pine License No http://www.washington.edu/pine/overview/legal.html
qmail License No http://cr.yp.to/qmail/dist.html deprecated, qmail is now public domain
Reciprocal Public License No http://www.opensource.org/licenses/rpl.php
Ricoh Source Code Public License No http://opensource.org/licenses/ricohpl.php
Scilab License (OLD) No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Scilab_License_Old Current versions of Scilab use the CeCILL license
Server Side Public License v1 (SSPL) No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SSPL
SGI Free Software License B 1.1 or older No http://oss.sgi.com/projects/FreeB/ Version 2.0 is MIT, free and GPL compat.
SGI GLX Public License 1.0 No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/GLX_Public_License All GLX code now uses Free B 2.0
Siren14 License Agreement No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Siren14_Licensing_Agreement
Spin Commercial License No http://www.spinroot.com/spin/spin_license.html
Squeak License No http://squeak.org/SqueakLicense/
SystemC Open Source License No http://www.systemc.org/about/org_docs/license/
Sun Binary Code License Agreement No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Sun_Binary_Code_License_Agreement Non-free, unless resolved with Supplemental License Terms
Sun Community Source License No http://www.sun.com/software/communitysource/
Sun RPC License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/SunRPC Restrictions on modification, distribution
Sun Solaris Source Code (Foundation Release) License No http://www.mibsoftware.com/librock/librock/license/ssscfr.txt
Sybase Open Watcom Public License 1.0 No http://opensource.org/licenses/sybase.php
Terracotta Public License 1.0 No http://svn.terracotta.org/svn/ehcache/tags/ehcache-2.9.0/distribution/src/main/assembly/root/licenses/EHCACHE-TERRACOTTA-LICENSE.txt Attribution requirements are burdensome, unclear, and potentially impossible to comply with (Section 14)
TrueCrypt License No http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license
TORQUE v2.5+ Software License v1.0 No Commercial use restriction
University of Utah Public License No http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gk/teem/txt/LICENSE.txt
University of Washington Free Fork License No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/UofWFreeFork No longer used
unrar license No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Unrar Use restrictions, forced removal clause, see license page for details
X.Net License N/A http://opensource.org/licenses/xnet.php Deprecated license
Yahoo Public License 1.0 No http://www.zimbra.com/license/yahoo_public_license_1.0.html
Zimbra Public License 1.3 No http://www.zimbra.com/license/zimbra-public-license-1-3.html Badgeware clause does not make allowances for modifications in which it is not technically possible to preserve a 'logo', we must assume this provision constitutes an undue burden on the right of modification.

Unknown Licenses

These are licenses for which the Fedora acceptability is unknown/undecided. If one of your packages uses one of these licenses, please let us know by emailing legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post).

Note: Some of these licenses may be pending review from the FSF.

Full Name FSF Free? GPLv2 Compatible? Upstream URL

GPL Compatibility Matrix

OK. Hold on tight. Think of this as a horrible legal version of "Does it Blend?".

(contents copied from http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#v2v3Compatibility)

I want to release a project under:
GPLv2 only GPLv2 or later GPLv3 or later LGPLv2.1 only LGPLv2.1 or later LGPLv3 or later
GPLv2 only OK OK 2 NO OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 2 NO
GPLv2 or later OK 1 OK OK OK if you convert to GPL 7 OK if you convert to GPL 7 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8
I want to copy code under: GPLv3 NO OK if you upgrade to GPLv3 3 OK OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 3 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8
LGPLv2.1 only OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 OK if you convert to GPL 7 2 OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 OK OK 6 OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 8
LGPLv2.1 or later OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 1 OK if you convert to GPL 7 OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 OK 5 OK OK
LGPLv3 NO OK if you upgrade and convert to GPLv3 8 3 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8 OK if you upgrade to LGPLv3 4 OK
I want to release a project under:
GPLv2 only GPLv2 or later GPLv3 or later LGPLv2.1 only LGPLv2.1 or later LGPLv3 or later
GPLv2 only OK OK 2 NO OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 OK if you convert to GPLv2 7 2 NO
GPLv2 or later OK 1 OK OK OK if you convert to GPL 7 1 OK if you convert to GPL 7 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8
I want to use (link to) a library under: GPLv3 NO OK if you upgrade to GPLv3 3 OK OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 OK if you convert to GPLv3 7 3 OK if you convert to GPLv3 8
LGPLv2.1 only OK OK OK OK OK OK
LGPLv2.1 or later OK OK OK OK OK OK
LGPLv3 NO OK OK OK OK OK

Footnotes:

1: You must follow the terms of GPLv2 when incorporating the code in this case. You cannot take advantage of terms in later versions of the GPL.

2: If you do this, as long as the project contains the code released under GPLv2 only, you will not be able to upgrade the project's license to GPLv3 or later.

3: If you have the ability to release the project under GPLv2 or any later version, you can choose to release it under GPLv3 or any later version—and once you do that, you'll be able to incorporate the code released under GPLv3.

4: If you have the ability to release the project under LGPLv2.1 or any later version, you can choose to release it under LGPLv3 or any later version—and once you do that, you'll be able to incorporate the code released under LGPLv3.

5: You must follow the terms of LGPLv2.1 when incorporating the code in this case. You cannot take advantage of terms in later versions of the LGPL.

6: If you do this, as long as the project contains the code released under LGPLv2.1 only, you will not be able to upgrade the project's license to LGPLv3 or later.

7: LGPLv2.1 gives you permission to relicense the code under any version of the GPL since GPLv2. If you can switch the LGPLed code in this case to using an appropriate version of the GPL instead (as noted in the table), you can make this combination.

8: LGPLv3 gives you permission to relicense the code under GPLv3. In these cases, you can combine the code if you convert the LGPLed code to GPLv3.

Documentation Licenses

These are the Documentation Licenses that we're aware of. There are almost certainly other Documentation Licenses in existence, if your Fedora package uses a license not listed here, please email legal@fedoraproject.org with the details (and full license text).

Good Licenses

Here is a list of Documentation Licenses that are OK for Fedora. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post).


Full Name Short Name FSF Free? Upstream URL
Apple's Common Documentation License, Version 1.0 CDL Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Common_Documentation_License
Creative Commons Attribution license CC-BY Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC-BY-SA Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
FreeBSD Documentation License FBSDDL Yes http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-doc-license.html
GNU Free Documentation License GFDL Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/fdl.html
GNU General Public License (See Note A) Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html
IEEE and Open Group Documentation License IEEE Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/IEEEDocLicense
Linux Documentation Project License LDPL Yes http://tldp.org/COPYRIGHT.html
Old FSF Documentation License OFSFDL Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OldFSFDocLicense
Open Publication License, v1.0 Open Publication Yes, provided the copyright holder does not exercise any of the “LICENSE OPTIONS” listed in Section VI http://opencontent.org/openpub/
Public Use License, v1.0 Public Use Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/PublicUseLicense
Verbatim License Verbatim Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/VerbatimLicense

Note A: The GNU General Public License can be used for general data which is not software, as long as one can determine what the definition of “source code” refers to in the particular case. In English, it means that you can use the GPL for documentation, but it is not necessarily a good choice, unless you are able to define what "source code" means for your documentation. Also, if you use this license, use the appropriate versioning short names as described in the Software License section.

Bad Licenses

These are documentation licenses which are NOT OKAY for Fedora. Nothing in Fedora should be using these licenses. They're either non-free or deprecated.

Full Name FSF Free? Upstream URL Notes
Open Content License No http://opencontent.org/opl.shtml
Open Directory License No http://dmoz.org/license.html
W3C Documentation License ? http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents Does not permit modification, different from W3C Software License

Content Licenses

These are the Content Licenses that we're aware of. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post). You will also want to review the Code Vs Content section of the Packaging Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#CodeVsContent

Good Licenses

Here is a list of Content Licenses that are OK for Fedora. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post). Note that content must be freely distributable without restriction for inclusion in Fedora, and that a written statement from the content owner granting this is considered an approved license for Fedora. The one exception is that we permit content (but only content) which restricts modification as long as that is the only restriction.

Full Name Short Name FSF Free? Upstream URL
Creative Commons Attribution license CC-BY Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC-BY-SA Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs CC-BY-ND No http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal CC0 Yes http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode
Data license Germany - attribution 2.0 DL-DE-BY Yes https://www.govdata.de/dl-de/by-2-0
Design Science License DSL Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/dsl.html
Distributed Management Task Force License DMTF No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/DMTF
EFF Open Audio License v1 OAL Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/OpenAudioLicense
Ethymonics Free Music License EFML No https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Ethymonics_Free_Music_License
Free Art License Free Art Yes http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/
GeoGratis Licence Agreement GeoGratis Yes http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/en/licence.jsp
GNU General Public License (See Note A) Yes http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html
License Ouverte Ouverte Yes https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence
LinuxTag Green OpenMusic License Green OpenMusic Yes (only if clause VI is NOT invoked) http://openmusic.linuxtag.org/green.html
Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence PDDL-1.0 Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/PDDL
Open Data License (GeoLite Country and GeoLite City databases) BSD with advertising Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#OpenData_Variant

Note A: The GNU General Public License can be used for general data which is not software, as long as one can determine what the definition of “source code” refers to in the particular case. In English, it means that you can use the GPL for content, but it is not necessarily a good choice, unless you are able to define what "source code" means for your content. Also, if you use this license, use the appropriate versioning short names as described in the Software License section.

Bad Licenses

These are content licenses which are NOT OKAY for Fedora. Nothing in Fedora should be using these licenses. They're either non-free, deprecated, or have usage/distribution restrictions.

Full Name FSF Free? Upstream URL Notes
CAcert Non-Related Persons Disclaimer and License No http://www.cacert.org/policy/NRPDisclaimerAndLicence.php No permission to redistribute
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs No http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial No http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike No http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 No http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/legalcode
LinuxTag Yellow OpenMusic License No http://openmusic.linuxtag.org/yellow.html Commercial use restrictions
Unsplash License https://unsplash.com/license Some use restrictions

Font Licenses

These are the Font Licenses that we're aware of. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to fedora-legal-list@redhat.com (note that this list is moderated, only members may directly post).

The GPL is also a valid license for fonts. Refer to the Software Licensing table for the correct short name identifiers.

Good Licenses

Fedora recommends that font authors and foundries use the SIL Open Font License:

Full Name Short Name FSF Free? Upstream URL
SIL Open Font License 1.1 http://scripts.sil.org/cms/sites/nrsi/media/OFL_logo_rect_color.png OFL Yes http://scripts.sil.org/OFL_web

Here is a list of additional Font Licenses that are also OK for Fedora. If your license is not in this list, and you'd like to know if it is appropriate for Fedora, please email the details to legal@lists.fedoraproject.org.

Full Name Short Name FSF Free? Upstream URL
Adobe/TUG Utopia license agreement Utopia ? http://tug.org/fonts/utopia/LICENSE-utopia.txt
AMS Bluesky Font License AMS ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/AMS
Arphic Public License Arphic Yes http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/non-gnu/chinese-fonts-truetype/LICENSE
Atkinson Hyperlegible Font License AHFL ? https://www.brailleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Atkinson-Hyperlegible-Font-License-2020-1104.pdf
Baekmuk License Baekmuk Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Baekmuk
Bitstream Vera Font License Bitstream Vera ? http://www.gnome.org/fonts/#Final_Bitstream_Vera_Fonts
Charter License Charter Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Charter
Creative Commons Attribution license CC-BY Yes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
DoubleStroke Font License DoubleStroke Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Fonts/DoubleStroke
ec Font License ec Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Fonts/ec
Elvish Font License Elvish Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Elvish
GUST Font License LPPL Yes http://tug.org/fonts/licenses/GUST-FONT-LICENSE.txt
Hack Open Font License HOFL ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/HackOpenFontLicense
Hershey Font License Hershey ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/HersheyFontLicense
IPA Font License IPA Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/IPAFontLicense
Liberation Font License Liberation Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LiberationFontLicense
LaTeX Project Public License LPPL Yes http://www.latex-project.org/lppl/lppl-1-3a.txt
Lucida Legal Notice Lucida ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Lucida
MgOpen Font License MgOpen ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Fonts/MgOpen
mplus Font License mplus Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/mplus
ParaType Font License PTFL Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Fonts/ParaType_Font_License
Punknova Font License Punknova Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Fonts/Punknova
STIX Fonts User License STIX Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/STIXFontsUserLicense
TTYP0 License MIT ? https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:MIT#ttyp0_variant
Wadalab Font License Wadalab Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Wadalab
XANO Mincho Font License XANO Yes https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/MinchoFontLicense

Bad Licenses

This is a list of Font licenses which are NOT OKAY for Fedora. Nothing in Fedora should be using these licenses. They're either non-free, deprecated, or have usage/distribution restrictions.

Full Name FSF Free? Upstream URL Notes
DIP SIPA Font License NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/DIP_SIPA_Font_License Restrictions on modification
Larabie Fonts License NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LarabieFontsLicense Cannot modify
Literat Font License NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LiteratFontLicense Cannot modify
Ubuntu Font License NO https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/UbuntuFontLicense Poorly written, cannot actually use fonts

Disclaimer

No usage of trademarks, either in this page or in any license "short identifiers" is intended as advertising. Any trademarks used are the property of their owners.

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