# Questions about proprietary

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597>\
**Category:** Meetups\
**Created:** [October 21, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597 "2017-10-21T14:41:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chobbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@chobbes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chobbes)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/1 "2017-10-21T14:41:15Z")

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Here are two questions I wonder if any one can give me easy-to-understand lay answers.

1. If an organization writes a software in Julia and wants to sell this software. Does it need to pay Julia? Is there any difference if this organization is profitable or an NPO?
2. What if more than just Julia core but also Julia packages are used in this software? I know that it depends on the license of each individual packages. But I wish someone can give me a concise lay answer.

I’m just curious about these questions and could have spent a day on digging into the details of the licenses and all sorts of legal terminologies. But shameful to say - really have no motivation to do that, as I just wish to get a quick answer. Sorry.

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**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/2 "2017-10-21T15:08:37Z")

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The Julia language itself uses the MIT license (which is permissive) + [optional GPL libraries](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/10870)

> **[Permissive software license](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_free_software_licence)**
>
> A permissive software license, sometimes also called BSD-like or BSD-style license, is a free-software license which instead of copyleft protections, carries only minimal restrictions on how the software can be used, modified, and redistributed, usually including a warranty disclaimer. Examples include the GNU All-permissive License, MIT License, BSD licenses, Apple Public Source License and Apache license. As of 2016,\[update\] the most popular free-software license is the permissive MIT licens

But keep in mind that some packages may have different copyleft licenses, so if you want to distribute any of the code along with your proprietary software, you will have to check on their individual licenses.

> **[Copyleft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft)**
>
> Higher categories: Software, freedom
> Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, freedoms refers to the use of the work for any purpose, and the ability to modify, copy, share, and redistribute the work, with or without a fee. Licenses which implement copyleft can be used to maintain copyright conditions for works ranging from computer software, to docume...

> **[Free-software license](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_and_copyleft_licences)**
>
> Higher categories: Software, freedom
> A free-software license is a notice that grants the recipient of a piece of software extensive rights to modify and redistribute that software. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holder (usually the author) of a piece of software can remove these restrictions by accompanying the software with a software license which grants the recipient these rights. Software using such a license is free software (or free and open-sour...

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**Author:** ![chobbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@chobbes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chobbes)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/3 "2017-10-21T15:11:43Z")

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Thanks a lot for your answers and the links. As a non-native speaker of English, may I ask - permissive here means free of charge?

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**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/4 "2017-10-21T15:12:37Z")

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Permissive is a technical legal term in this context. It basically means that you can do whatever you want with it, as long as you acknowledge the original authors. There are many websites online that explain more.

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**Author:** ![chobbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@chobbes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chobbes)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/5 "2017-10-21T15:18:06Z")

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Thanks!! To be honest - It is this kind of legal terms really drive me nuts each and every time I attempted to understand what those licenses talk about. `Coz the meaning of some of the most common words appear unfathomable in the context of these licenses.

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**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/questions-about-proprietary/6597/6 "2017-10-21T15:48:51Z")

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You can easily find very detailed and understandable explanations, comparisons of various licenses, and discussions of their relative merits online (Wikipedia, FSF).