Ruby License

Ruby License

Author	Yukihiro Matsumoto
Publisher	Yukihiro Matsumoto, et al.
DFSG compatible	Yes
FSF approved	Yes
OSI approved	No
GPL compatible	Yes
Copyleft	Limited
Linking from code with a different license	Yes

The Ruby License is a license applied to the Ruby programming language and also available to be used in other projects. It is approved by the Free Software Foundation although it has not been reviewed (approved Open Source) by the Open Source Initiative.

Terms

The Ruby License has unusual copyleft requirements, stating that redistributions should not necessarily be under the terms of the Ruby license, but placed "in the Public Domain or otherwise ... Freely Available". For example, a modified form of a program licensed under the Ruby license may be placed under the GNU General Public License or Common Development and Distribution License, which, while still free software licenses, are incompatible with each other, but it may not be redistributed as a proprietary application.

Dual licensing

For Ruby versions up to 1.9.2, it included an explicit dual-licensing clause that allowed covered software to be distributed under the terms of the GPL instead of those of the Ruby License itself. For versions since 1.9.2, starting with 1.9.3, the reference implementation of Ruby has used a version of the Ruby License that includes an explicit dual-licensing clause that allows covered software to be distributed under the terms of the Simplified BSD License instead.

The Free Software Foundation comments: "This is a free software licence, compatible with the GPL via an explicit dual-licensing clause."

External links

• Text of the Ruby License
• GPL Compatible Licenses