is it necessary to include mit licenese for every project even if my code base is available in github? Jj Td N
I use 3 MIT licensed projects in my source code. Do I need to include 3 copies of the MIT license (in different directories) or can I just include a single copy of the MIT license on the root? If a commercial software uses my project where does it need to include the MIT license?
1 Answer
In your source code, you only need to keep the MIT license notices of your dependencies intact – you do not have to add them anywhere. If someone builds upon your software, they have to comply with the licenses of their entire dependency tree, and also look at your dependencies.
If you distribute your software in non-source form (e.g. compiled or minified), you still need to keep the notices intact. Then, it would make sense to copy the MIT license notices of your dependencies to a separate file, or to show it in a help message within your software.
The notice that you must preserve consists of both copyright notices and the MIT license text. There are two different variants of the MIT license (Expat and X11) which cannot be exchanged. But where the precise license text is duplicated, you are free to include it only once. For example:
License
Copyright 2019 your name
Your license text
Third party software
Dependency A
Copyright 2019 someone
License: MIT
Dependency B
Copyright 2016-2018 someone else
License: MIT
Third party license text
MIT
Permission is hereby granted ...
You can also look at how web browsers like Chrome or Firefox do this, which is generally reasonable. E.g. Firefox includes license text once, unless it differs with copyright notices or other additions. This means that MIT-licensed dependencies are each listed with their own license (e.g. “the dependency A license”), whereas standardized license documents like Apache 2 or GPL are only included once.
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thanks for the clarification @amon.. what if my source code is public , do I still need to keep the notices intact? – Pravesh Agarwal 6 hours ago
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@PraveshAgarwal Yes, you must always keep existing notices intact. – amon 2 hours ago