>>> [!note] Migrated issue <!-- Drupal.org comment --> <!-- Migrated from issue #1449452. --> Reported by: [redndahead](https://www.drupal.org/user/160320) >>> <h3 id="summary-problem-motivation">Problem/Motivation</h3> <p>Currently everything committed to Drupal.org's git repository is licensed GPLv2 and later (GPLv2+). Adding the option for installation profiles/distributions to be packaged with third party code on Drupal.org was a huge improvement, but has resulted in requests to include code with licenses that are not compatible with GPLv2+. Currently, <em>everything</em> (the installation profile, modules, themes, third party libraries and all) included in the downloadable package of a distribution must be compatible with GPLv2+.</p> <p>By limiting distributions to GPLv2+ on Drupal.org, we limit the libraries distributions can include. Because the GPLv2+ license allows anyone to distribution Drupal along w/ contrib modules and themes as GPLv3, distributions that want to use these additional libraries are doing so on Github.</p> <h3 id="summary-proposed-resolution">Proposed resolution</h3> <p>Give distribution maintainers the option of selecting a GPLv3+ (GPLv3 and later) license for the packaged download available on Drupal.org.</p> <h3 id="potential-problems">Potential Problems</h3> <p><a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean">According to the FSF, there are more licenses are compatible with GPLv3 than the GPLv2</a>. However, since GPLv2+ is downstream-compatible with GPLv3, distributions packaged as GPLv3+ will offer downstream recipients <em>less freedom</em> than distributions packaged as GPLv2+.</p> <p>Since <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#v2v3Compatibility">GPLv2 and GPLv3 are not compatible</a>, distributions licensed as GPLv3+ couldn't incorporate any GPLv2 <em>ONLY</em> or GPLv3 <em>ONLY</em> code (i.e. code that is licensed <em>without</em> the "and/or later" clause). Also, downstream recipients would not be allowed to combine what they receive in a distribution under GPLv3+ with such code.</p> <p>It should also be noted that it is very hard to find free software that is licensed under GPLv3 <em>and later</em> (GPLv3+). For instance, the libraries that is mentioned below under "Example Whitelist Requests from Distributions Currently Rejected" are licensed under GPLv3 or Apache 2.0 <em>ONLY</em>.</p> <h3 id="workarounds">Workarounds</h3> <ol> <li>Use <a href="https://www.drupal.org/node/2404989">Composer</a> to declare the dependencies of a Drupal distribution.</li> <li>Reach out to the maintainer of the free software that available under GPLv3 or Apache 2.0 and request that they dual license it under GPLv2+. Many maintainers of free software care about the freedom of their users and will accommodate such a request.</li> </ol> <h3 id="example-requests">Example Whitelist Requests from Distributions Currently Rejected:</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://drupal.org/project/commons">Drupal Commons</a> - <span class="drupalorg-gitlab-issue-link project-issue-status-info project-issue-status-5"><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupalorg_whitelist/issues/2092457" title="Status: Closed (won't fix)">#2092457: Add Kissmetrics Library to Drupal.org Whitelist</a></span></li> <li><a href="https://drupal.org/project/julio">Julio</a> - <span class="drupalorg-gitlab-issue-link project-issue-status-info project-issue-status-17"><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupalorg_whitelist/issues/1705924" title="Status: Closed (outdated)">#1705924: Please whitelist FunnyMonkey-EPUB-Package</a></span></li> <li><a href="https://drupal.org/project/opigno_lms">Opigno LMS</a> - <span class="drupalorg-gitlab-issue-link project-issue-status-info project-issue-status-17"><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupalorg_whitelist/issues/2086433" title="Status: Closed (outdated)">#2086433: Add OpenFramework</a></span></li> <li><a href="https://drupal.org/project/mica_distribution">MICA Distributions</a> - <span class="drupalorg-gitlab-issue-link project-issue-status-info project-issue-status-17"><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupalorg_whitelist/issues/1886314" title="Status: Closed (outdated)">#1886314: Add Opal library</a></span></li> </ul> <h3 id="moving-to-github">Distributions Considering Moving to Github:</h3> <ul> <li>Currently none.</li> </ul> <h3 id="moved-to-github">Distributions That Have Already Moved to Github:</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://drupal.org/project/dkan">DKAN</a><br> DKAN has moved because several libraries we use can't be whitelisted. We are tracking those libraries and their status here:<a href="https://github.com/NuCivic/dkan/issues/226">https://github.com/NuCivic/dkan/issues/226</a></li> </ul> <h3>Miscellaneous</h3> <p>We currently do all issue and code management on Github and push commits to Drupal.org with Jenkins.</p> > Related issue: [Issue #2367281](https://www.drupal.org/node/2367281) > Related issue: [Issue #3274999](https://www.drupal.org/node/3274999)