This is the Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 2.0 FAQ. It aims to answer the most common questions people have about using and distributing code under the MPL. Please note that, while this FAQ is intended to be accurate and helpful, it is not the license, and may not cover important issues that affect you and your specific situation.
- What is the Mozilla Public License?The MPL is a simple copyleft license. The MPL's "file-level" copyleft is designed to encourage contributors to share modifications they make to you...
- Why yet another open source license?The MPL fills a useful space in the spectrum of free and open source software licenses, sitting between the Apache license, which does not require...
- Who maintains the MPL?The MPL is maintained by the Mozilla project, a global non-profit community dedicated to building openness, interoperability and individual empower...
- I want to use the Mozilla Public License for software that I have written. What do I have to do?To apply the Mozilla Public License to software that you have written, add the header from Exhibit A of the license to each source code file in you...
- I want to use software which is available under the MPL. What do I have to do?Nothing. Like all other free and open source software, software available under the MPL is available for anyone (including individuals and companie...
- I want to distribute software which is available under the MPL, either changed or unchanged, within ...Nothing. The right to private modification and distribution (and inside a company or organization counts as 'private') is another right guaranteed...
- I want to distribute (outside my organization) complete and unchanged executable programs built from...As long as the people who distributed the program to you have complied with the MPL, typically nothing. To check and see if the people who distribu...
- I want to distribute (outside my organization) executable programs or libraries that I have compiled...You must inform the recipients where they can get the source for the MPLed code in the executable program or library you are distributing (i.e., yo...
- I want to distribute (outside my organization) MPL-licensed source code that I have modified. What d...To see the complete set of requirements, read the license. However, generally: You must inform the recipients that the source code is made availabl...
- I want to distribute (outside my organization) an executable program based on MPL-licensed source co...You must make available the MPL-licensed portions of the source code as described in the previous question, and inform the recipients how they can...
Mozilla Public License About the License Mozilla is the custodian of the Mozilla Public License ("MPL"), an open source / free software license. The current version of the license is MPL 2.0 ( html | plain text ). If you want to use or distribute code licensed under the MPL 2.0 and have questions about it, you may want to read the FAQ.
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Open source software licenses fall into two categories: permissive and copyleft. Copyleft licenses, in turn, come in two flavors: strong and weak. The Mozilla Public License 2.0 is in the latter group.
Weak copyleft licenses like the Mozilla Public License 2.0 fill a niche between strong copyleft licenses, such as the GPLs, and permissive ones like MIT or Apache License 2.0. As a result, it serves specific use cases for both authors and companies that rely on open source software.
One recent examinationof projects on GitHub found that approximately 1.4% of works on the platform used the Mozilla Public License 2.0. It was the only weak copyleft license present in any significant number of projects. Couple this fact with its positioning as a “bridge” between GPL-like licenses and permissive ones, and it’s clear MPL 2.0 present...
It's a "modern" license with protections against patent disputes like the Apache 2.0, but unlike the Apache 2.0 license it's not incompatible with the GPLv2 Apache 2.0 incompatibility problems are why you tend to see Apache 2.0 + MIT dual licensing. It's a file based license so you don't need to think about linking, only source code files.
The module is dual licensed under a GPL v2 variant or BSD license choice. The exact variant of the BSD license can only be determined via the license information in the corresponding source files. “Dual MPL/GPL” The module is dual licensed under a GPL v2 variant or Mozilla Public License (MPL) choice.
MPL is a copyleft license that is easy to comply with. You must make the source code for any of your changes available under MPL, but you can combine the MPL software with proprietary code, as long as you keep the MPL code in separate files. Version 2.0 is, by default, compatible with LGPL and GPL version 2 or greater.