# What are the functionality restrictions when compiling Julia with \`USE\_GPL\_LIBS=0\`?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-are-the-functionality-restrictions-when-compiling-julia-with-use-gpl-libs-0/54674>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [February 5, 2021, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-are-the-functionality-restrictions-when-compiling-julia-with-use-gpl-libs-0/54674 "2021-02-05T07:46:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-are-the-functionality-restrictions-when-compiling-julia-with-use-gpl-libs-0/54674/1 "2021-02-05T07:46:20Z")

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What are the functionality restrictions when compiling Julia with `USE_GPL_LIBS=0` ?

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**Author:** ![heetbeet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/heetbeet/32/20958_2.png) [@heetbeet](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/heetbeet)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-are-the-functionality-restrictions-when-compiling-julia-with-use-gpl-libs-0/54674/2 "2021-02-05T13:53:16Z")

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[suavesito](https://app.slack.com/team/U0110B59U0Y) [4 hours ago](https://julialang.slack.com/archives/C6A044SQH/p1612518274092900?thread_ts=1612511149.092200&cid=C6A044SQH)

From what I was able to read… from Julia itself you may lose SuiteSparse, but I may have read it the wrong way. You can read little more in these threads

- [Is JULIA suitable for the development of proprietary derived-softwares?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-julia-suitable-for-the-development-of-proprietary-derived-softwares/7912/19)
- [GPL and virality](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/gpl-and-virality/7715)
- [Are the Julia binaries GPL-free?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/are-the-julia-binaries-gpl-free/19993)

(edited)

![JuliaLang](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/1/0123c8c52ff7067df3d7572bf3225798bd4b3d4b.png)JuliaLang

[Is JULIA suitable for the development of proprietary derived-softwares?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-julia-suitable-for-the-development-of-proprietary-derived-softwares/7912/19)

Example 1: you build Julia yourself from source with USE\_GPL\_LIBS=0. The Julia source code is under MIT, except the interface subdirectories noted in LICENSE.md which are excluded from the system image by USE\_GPL\_LIBS=0. No GPL code is linked or loaded in the system image. You can embed in a proprietary application and distribute\* without any GPL obligation (MIT license applies). Example 2: you link your application against the Julia download distribution, which loads GPL code and links to GPL…

Dec 22nd, 2017

![JuliaLang](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/1/0123c8c52ff7067df3d7572bf3225798bd4b3d4b.png)JuliaLang

[GPL and virality](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/gpl-and-virality/7715)

It’s often stated that the GPL is “viral” – i.e. that using GPL code “infects” other code. There is a viral effect for code that is not licensed under a GPL-compatible license, but not for code that is licensed under a GPL-compatible license like MIT or BSD. First, a bit on how software licenses work: a software license is a legal document in which the copyright holder – typically the author of the code – gives someone the right to use or redistribute the software under certain conditions. If y…

Dec 12th, 2017

![JuliaLang](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/1/0123c8c52ff7067df3d7572bf3225798bd4b3d4b.png)JuliaLang

[Are the Julia binaries GPL-free?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/are-the-julia-binaries-gpl-free/19993)

It’s unclear to me if Julia [1.1] is compiled with USE\_GPL\_LIBS (the docs only say it’s possible to compile without): It seems SuiteSparse is the only real GPL dependency left (and even only for GPL for part of it). MbedTLS has non-GPL as an option and all other GPL dependencies have linking exceptions, it seems; so not a problem. As I don’t need SuiteSparse it would be nice to have an MIT-only (and similar plus Apache-licenced) download option without it for distribution (or at least know e…

Jan 23rd, 2019

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/5/a/5aad322befa8f6e2f9a162ed7c1cffdcfbbea85d.jpeg)

[Heetbeet](https://app.slack.com/team/U018FJVBXPD) [4 hours ago](https://julialang.slack.com/archives/C6A044SQH/p1612519719093400?thread_ts=1612511149.092200&cid=C6A044SQH)

Cool, thanks