Multiple licenses for a project
-
Hi, I have a project licensed under GPL, but I want to license certain files under a permissive license like MIT (for example: plugin templates). Since Qt is licensed under the LGPL there will be no problem with dynamic linking.
I want to make it clear that only that files are licensed under MIT license, and not the whole project. Including a GPL and MIT license for each file, and a full GPL notice in the project directory, will be enough? -
Should be. Take a look at Qt sources - every file has a shortened copyright notice + there is full license text in a separate text file. You can also take a look at projects like "Battle for Wesnoth":http://wesnoth.org/ where sources and artwork are licensed differently. Just make sure your users know about/ can check it easily, and you should be fine.
-
Then, that means that adding a short copyright notice in each file will insulate that file from the license of the other files, and the full license will be applyed to every file with no copyright notice, right?
-
Not sure I follow your train of thought. Let me rephrase: in general, every file separately is - by law - "protected" by copyright (either yours or your employer's). What Qt itself does is it adds a short disclaimer to every file that states what the license is (by name) and points out to the reader where the full text is located. This is also what FSF proposes, and I think it does solve your problem - because you can put different notice in every file (depending on what license is valid for it).