I like the GPL license but the project I\'m working on is a more general purpose

Question

I like the GPL license but the project I'm working on is a more general purpose one that will be used inside other programs. It doesn't run independently like a CMS or application would. So I'm looking around at other projects to see what they've done.

JQuery has an interesting MIT/GPL license

Zend framework has New BSD license

Symfony framework has MIT license

As developers, is there an established preference that we expect from libraries. I rarely cared because I never build applications that were sold or distributed, which eliminated the possibility that I would be in conflict with the license of a library I'm using, but I want to know what others are thinking. Will you avoid using a library or a framework if it's GPL?

I'm a bit torn. I'd like to use GPL and as the only license (unlike JQuery for example) but I also worry that this will scare developers away who want to use the library to build distributable code. The other thing is I'm seeing that many libraries are frameworks are released as MIT, but I find the MIT license, well, a bit too "loose" for my taste.

Explanation / Answer

Will you avoid using a library or a framework if it's GPL?

Yes. Using a GPL'd library would essentially require me to publish the source of my software that uses the library, or even GPL it (altough this is somewhat unclear - but better not take legal risks).

Publishing sources (let alone GPL'ing a software product) is typically impossible with commercial software (depending on corporate policies). And even if I could publish the source, I dislike the idea that some 3rd party library's license defines how I should license my software.

Consider using LGPL, or even better, another licence widely used in libraries the Apache License.

Regardless of the details - all GPL licenses are quite incomprehensible and subject to continuous re-interpretation by lawyers and by the FSF - it's clear that the spirit of GPL is to make all software free via viral licenses. In practice they're better to avoid, unless, of course, you agree with their goals and understand them.

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