I would like to make a program and licence it under MIT. However, I would like to use the GPLv3 PyQt library in it. Is this legal? PS. Is there any difference with GPLv2?
A:
It's legal if you contact the team and ask for an MIT licensed version of PyQt. If they refuse, then you cannot relicense it yourself.
But no big deal, you just add it to the dependency list in the README file and force your users to download and install it separately.
Yes, there are differences between v2 and v3 of the GPL. Here's RMS's take.
Frank Krueger
2009-10-20 16:26:20
+3
A:
In general, if you are distributing all of the source, it is legal. However, you cannot override the more restrictive GPL license with your MIT license, so that part of the code would remain GPL.
Robert Harvey
2009-10-20 16:27:29
+1
A:
It depends if you plan to modify the library or simply link to it. If you are only linking to the library then you are allowed to use it as you please as long as you comply with the restriction put in place (such as distributing source or noting it's use in the readme. In this case you are simply distributing a GPL licensed library with your MIT licensed application.
If you plan to modify the library code or use the source directly in your project then you may need to get a relicensed version in order to release under the MIT license.
chills42
2009-11-02 19:38:45