[R-pkg-devel] best practices for handling a mixed-licensed package

[Jeff Newmiller]

Hadley offers what you _can_ do, but if you want clarity in the minds of _users_ I would beg you to split the code into two packages. People will likely either be afraid of the GPL bogey man and refrain from utilizing your MIT code as permitted or fail to honor the GPL terms correctly if both are in the same package.

On October 2, 2020 1:16:36 PM PDT, Hadley Wickham <h.wickham using gmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, Oct 2, 2020 at 1:51 PM Ben Bolker <bbolker using gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>    A collaborator is arguing that it's a good idea to license one
>small
>> component of a package under the MIT license, while the rest of it
>> remains GPL >=2.
>>
>>    Suppose this is feasible.  How do I specify the license?  As far
>as I
>> can tell from
>>
>https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Licensing
>> the DESCRIPTION file should have
>>
>> License: file LICENSE
>> License_is_FOSS: yes
>> License_restricts_use: no
>>
>>    But I can't figure out what should go in the LICENSE file. The one
>> file that contains the MIT-licensed components contains the relevant
>> license text in its body.
>>
>> License: GPL (>=2) | MIT + file LICENSE
>>
>> doesn't seem right, because these are not *alternative* licenses. 
>Would
>> "GPL (>=2) + file LICENSE" be OK? We could explain the situation in
>> LICENSE.note (WRE says "To include comments about the licensing
>rather
>> than the body of a license, use a file named something like
>> LICENSE.note. ")
>>
>>    Could file LICENSE contain
>>
>> The code in this package is licensed under GPL >=2 (see
>> https://www.r-project.org/Licenses/GPL-2,
>> https://www.r-project.org/Licenses/GPL-3, except for <FILE xxx>,
>which
>> is under the MIT license (see <FILE xxx for details>).
>> ?
>>
>
>I have some recommendations at
>https://r-pkgs.org/license.html#code-you-bundle, but in brief use
>License:
>GPL (>= 2) and then explain in LICENSE.note which components have more
>liberal licenses.
>
>Hadley

-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.