Mozilla Public License
Sign in to savepermissive free software license scheme developed by the Mozilla organization
Key facts
- Author
- Mozilla Foundation
- Publisher
- Mozilla Foundation
- Published
- January 3, 2012
- Spdx identifier
- MPL-2.0 MPL-1.1 MPL-1.0 (see list for more )
- Debian fsg compatible
- Yes
- Fsf approved
- Yes
- Osi approved
- Yes
- Gpl compatible
- 2.0: Yes (by default, unless marked as "Incompatible With Secondary Licenses") 1.1: No
- Copyleft
- Yes, file-based
- Linking from code with a different licen
- Yes
- Website
- www .mozilla .org /MPL
via Wikipedia infobox
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Mozilla Public License (MPL) is a free and open-source weak copyleft license for most Mozilla Foundation software such as Firefox and Thunderbird. The MPL is developed and maintained by Mozilla, which seeks to balance the concerns of both open-source and proprietary developers. It is distinguished from others as a middle ground between the permissive software BSD-style licenses and the GNU General Public License. As such, it allows the integration of MPL-licensed code into proprietary codebases, as long as the MPL-licensed components remain accessible under the terms of the MPL.
MPL has been used by others, such as Adobe to license their Flex product line, and The Document Foundation to license LibreOffice 4.0 (also on LGPL 3+). Version 1.1 was adapted by several projects to form derivative licenses like Sun Microsystems' Common Development and Distribution License. It has undergone two revisions: the minor update 1.1, and a major update version 2.0 nearing the goals of greater simplicity and better compatibility with other licenses.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mozilla Public License” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.