nonGPL

Non-GPL is a descriptive term used to refer to software that is licensed under licenses other than the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is not a formal license itself, but rather a way to denote licensing terms that do not impose the GPL’s strong copyleft. In practice, non-GPL licenses cover a wide spectrum, from permissive licenses that allow broad reuse with minimal obligations to other copyleft-style licenses that apply only to parts of a project.

Common examples of non-GPL licenses are permissive licenses such as the MIT License, the BSD family, and the Apache License 2.0. These licenses typically allow redistribution, modification, and private use with few restrictions, and they are generally compatible with a wide range of other licenses, including the GPL in many cases. Some non-GPL licenses, such as the Mozilla Public License (MPL), implement a file-based or weaker form of copyleft that requires source code for modified files to be made available under the same license when distributed, but are still not the GPL itself.

Licensing considerations for developers and organizations include how a license affects linking, distribution, attribution, and the potential for combining code with proprietary software. Permissive non-GPL licenses often enable inclusion in proprietary products, provided obligations like notices are followed. Copyleft non-GPL licenses can impose obligations on modified source files, though their reach and requirements vary by license.

Choosing a license in the non-GPL space involves balancing goals such as permissiveness, redistribution rights, and obligations to disclose modifications, and weighing compatibility with other licenses in a given project. See also: GNU General Public License, copyleft, permissive licenses.