The author published their work under whatever terms they choose. This may include multiple standardized licenses, but standardized licenses really are just templates for the terms that the author publishes the work under. Ultimately, you need to consider the whole licensing construct.
If the whole licensing construct is "you can choose the A set of terms, or the B set of terms", and the A set of terms (license) says "only this license grants you permission" or something like that — that clause only kicks in if you "choose" license A. If you "choose" license B, then A is of no interest of you. Think of it this way: you can buy a given product in shop A in the UK, and in shop B in the USA. These two shops have totally different warranty terms etc. If you buy in shop A, then the terms of shop B has no influence on you at all. A. On Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 10:27 AM Lawrence D'Oliveiro < [email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, 17 Apr 2025 17:48:08 +1000, Andrew Murray wrote: > > > Over at https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/issues/8880, debate > > has arisen about FreeType's two licenses - does Pillow need to pick > > one, or is it up to our users to decide that for themselves? > > I always wondered about the case where one of those two licences is > some version of the GPL. GPLv2 > <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html> says > (section 5): > > You are not required to accept this License, since you have not > signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify > or distribute the Program or its derivative works. > > while GPLv3 <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html> says > (section 9): > > You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or > run a copy of the Program. ... However, nothing other than this > License grants you permission to propagate or modify any covered > work. > > Note that “nothing else” and “nothing other than this licence”. Surely > if you have a choice of an alternative licence, then that clause > doesn’t mean anything ... ? > > -- Adam Twardoch (to contact directly, remove "list." from e-mail address)
