# Package licenses: Contemplations and considerations

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-licenses-contemplations-and-considerations/117922>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** package\
**Created:** [August 7, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-licenses-contemplations-and-considerations/117922 "2024-08-07T14:59:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 104

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**Author:** ![Palli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/palli/32/3380_2.png) [@Palli](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Palli)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2026, 11:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/package-licenses-contemplations-and-considerations/117922/104 "2026-04-27T23:48:40Z")

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> [@GeorgeGkountouras](#):
>
> > [@Palli](#):
> >
> > I’m sure if I bundle say Microsoft Windows with my software, Microsoft will not be happy. …
> 
> Windows is proprietary, not (A)GPL. Why would copyright law apply on copyleft licenses

You can _run_ (A)GPL software on Windows, or with any proprietary software just not bundle together, to distribute/convey (objected to by Microsoft, _and_ the GPL, or rather the GPL ok with it if you provide the source, at least with the written offer to provide it, it apply to others too).

It’s not even obvious you’re allowed to run GPL/copyleft on Windows, except since it’s allowed by the explicit “system library exception” (on the GPL side) that would apply to Window:

> **[Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU Licenses
- GNU Project - Free...](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#SystemLibraryException)**
>
> “GPL” stands for “General Public License”. The most widespread such license is the GNU General Public License, or GNU GPL for short. This can be further shortened to “GPL”, when it is understood that the GNU GPL is the one intended.

Also the GPL doesn’t care what you do in private. Even on a free operating system, like Linux, it’s not clear you can run proprietary there, except because it was declared so by Linus Torvalds:

> **[LicenseDB: linux-syscall-exception-gpl](https://scancode-licensedb.aboutcode.org/linux-syscall-exception-gpl.html)**

If I made a proprietary software to run (only) on Linux, it wouldn’t be obvious it wouldn’t become derived software of the kernel, i.e. become GPL/copyleft itself. This is also dynamic linking. Yes, explicitly allowed allowed in Europe/EU (i.e. copyright doesn’t apply to interfaces, making derived work there), it seems to me, but not clear in the US.

See also:

> **[GPL linking exception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPL_linking_exception)**
>
> A GPL linking exception modifies the GNU General Public License (GPL) in a way that enables software projects which provide library code to be "linked to" the programs that use them, without applying the full terms of the GPL to the using program. Linking is the technical process of connecting code in a library to the using code, to produce a single executable file. It is performed either at compile time or run-time in order to produce functional machine-readable code. The Free Software Foundatio...

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