The maintainers of the Mozilla Public License are excited to announce the release of version 2.0 of the Mozilla Public License (html, txt). We hope that this license will serve its users well for the next decade, just as MPL 1.1 did.

About the MPL

Just like version 1.1, version 2.0 of the Mozilla Public License is a “file-level copyleft” license. The license is designed to encourage contributors to share modifications they make to MPL-licensed code, while still allowing users to create projects that combine MPL-licensed code with code under other licenses (either open or proprietary).

MPL 2.0, like MPL 1.1 before it, has been approved as a free software license by the Free Software Foundation, and as an Open Source license by the Open Source Initiative.

What’s New

The result of a two year revision process that included feedback and suggestions from the Mozilla community, users of the MPL (both community and corporate), and the broader open source legal community, MPL 2.0 contains several important changes from MPL 1.1. In particular, MPL 2.0:

• is simpler and shorter, using the past 10 years of in-practice application of the license to help better understand what is and isn’t necessary in an open source license.
• is modernized for recent changes in copyright law, and incorporates feedback from lawyers outside the United States on issues of applicability in non-US jurisdictions.
• provides patent protections for contributors more in line with those of other open source licenses, and allows an entire community of contributors to protect any contributor if they are sued.
• provides compatibility with the Apache and GPL licenses, making code reuse and redistribution easier.

For a more complete list of changes, see the FAQ’s entry on “what has changed.”

Using MPL 2.0

The MPL FAQ explains how to use MPL 2.0 for new code, and the MPL Revision FAQ explains how to use MPL 2.0 for code originally licensed under MPL 1.1.

The Mozilla Project has announced that it will move to the new license. Further plans and procedures for moving to MPL will be announced on appropriate newsgroups, including mozilla-governance.

Other Materials

Along with the release of MPL 2.0, we have released a variety of materials designed to help answer questions about the new license.

• FAQ: The MPL FAQ answers critical questions about the license. We will continue to revise and update this as new questions are asked.
• Revision Process FAQ: The Revision Process FAQ answers questions about the process we followed to upgrade the license from 1.1 to 2.0, including details on the changes made to the license.
• Historical Information: We’ve collected a variety of historical information about previous versions of the license, including old license texts and license FAQs, in one place, for reference.

Acknowledgements

Any two-year long process will necessarily involve feedback and involvement from too many people to thank completely in one place. With apologies to those we have overlooked, the maintainer and peers would like to thank the following people, who have been particularly helpful in various areas:

• Members of the mozilla-governance-mpl newsgroup, particularly including Benoit Jacob, Ben Bucksch, Alexis Richardson, and Michael Kay. Many of this group’s suggestions made it into the license, but even when the suggestions couldn’t be incorporated, they pushed to make the license better.
• Heather Meeker and Karen Copenhaver, who both contributed a substantial amount of time and expertise, particularly during the critical beta period when much wordsmithing was necessary.
• Till Jaeger, who was instrumental in helping us think through international copyright issues.
• Daniel German and other members of his research group, whose useful advice and research helped us understand how licenses are deployed in the wild.
• Brett Smith, Eben Moglen, Aaron Williamson, James Vasile, and Richard Fontana, who all gave helpful feedback in many areas, but particularly in the area of GPL compatibility.
• Simon Phipps, Karl Fogel, and OSI’s license-review list, who were all very helpful in shepherding the license through the OSI process.
• The fine folks in Apache’s legal team, who were helpful in discussing Apache compatibility issues early in the process.
• Members of the FSFE’s FSFE Legal team, as well as many other in-house lawyers from several large software firms who preferred not to be named publicly but quietly gave their time and specific advice to help improve the license.
• The creators of the open source software tools used to write the license, particularly the co-ment team, G.P. Halkes of dwdiff, and John MacFarlane of pandoc.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about the new MPL, please contact licensing@mozilla.org.

– the maintainer and peers (Mitchell Baker, Harvey Anderson, Gervase Markham, Heather Meeker, and Luis Villa)

The MPL team is excited to announce the Release Candidate draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License. If no significant problems with this text are found, it will become Mozilla Public License, version 2.0.

Aside from cosmetic changes, there are two primary changes between this draft and beta 2:

• Secondary License compatibility is now combined with the language on Larger Works, and clarified. Thank you to the several counsel who helped with this process.
• Several definitions are tweaked, with related changes in the text.

The draft is available as pdf, plain html, and plain text. An annotated redline showing changes from Beta 1 with explanatory footnotes is also available as a pdf.

We have also made available two draft FAQs for discussion and commentary:

• The MPL FAQ: This is the primary FAQ for the license, and will be updated as we get new questions.
• Revision Process and Changes FAQ: This FAQ deals with questions related to the MPL 1.1->2.0 process, and with the changes between 1.1 and 2.0.

We’ve had a lot of useful feedback throughout this process, both from professional lawyers and passionate non-lawyers, but we’re still seeking to write the best license we can. That means we still want even more participation and commentary from both the Mozilla community and the broader community of MPL and FLOSS users. There are three key ways to get involved:

• Give general questions and feedback (“I don’t understand Section 10″) through our mailing list.
• Give specific textual comments (“This word should be capitalized”) through our commenting tool.
• Give private feedback (“I can’t have my company’s position publicly known”) by contacting me directly (fill out the form at the link to get my email address).

If you’ve already been involved, please don’t stop at reading and commenting! You can also help by telling other MPL users about the process and circulating the release candidate widely.  There is still time for others to become involved- but only if you help them by letting them know about the process.

The MPL team is excited to announce the second Beta draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License. We are publishing a second Beta, and not a Release Candidate, because we’re seeking further feedback on the substantially revised GPL compatibility clause.

The primary changes in this draft:

• GPL compatibility is changed from opt-in to opt-out, and language of the GPL compatibility clause is revised to make it more closely parallel existing language about Larger Works.
• Slightly reorganized Sections 2 and 3 to make them more clear.
• Made slight changes in the grants to clarify that grants extend to Executable forms.
• Removed loser-pays language, at the suggestion of Software Freedom Law Center.

The draft is available as pdf, html, and plain text. An annotated redline showing changes from Beta 1 with explanatory footnotes is also available as a pdf.

In addition, an experimental “FAQified version” of the license is available as a pdf. This format replaces traditional license section titles with questions, but otherwise leaves the text unchanged. We welcome your feedback on it.

We’re still seeking participation and commentary from both the Mozilla community and the broader community of MPL and FLOSS users. There are two key ways to get involved:

• Give general questions and feedback (“I don’t understand Section 10″) through our mailing list.
• Give specific textual comments (“This word should be capitalized”) through our commenting tool.

If you’ve already been involved, please don’t stop at reading and commenting! You can also help by telling other MPL users about the process and circulating the beta draft widely.  There is still time for others to become involved- but only if you help them by letting them know about the process.

The MPL team is excited to announce the first Beta draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License. This draft reflects nine months of work by a community of commenters and lawyers, and a decade of learning before that, while still trying to remain consistent with the values and processes that have made the MPL so successful.

The draft is available as pdf, html, and plain text.

We feel this draft should be “feature complete.” Most major changes that we expect to make have been made, and we plan to focus on correctness and refinement for the remainder of the process. We hope to publish a final text early in the new year.

As with previous releases, we have also published a discussion document. The discussion document has three parts:

• A discussion of the state of the license, and the major changes between Alpha 3 and Beta 1.
• A markup version of the license, showing word-by-word changes made since Alpha 3, including annotations explaining smaller changes not discussed in the first part of the document.
• A markup version showing word-by-word changes made since MPL 1.1. This is not annotated, because the changes are so significant, but should provide a useful guide for anyone who is joining the process without having read the Alpha discussion documents.

There are several significant changes between Alpha 3 and Beta 1, including further refinement of the GPL compatibility and venue clauses, and removal of the concept of “Original Software.”

The changes since MPL 1.1 are extensive, and include:

• Clarified and simplified- cutting the length from 3702 words to 2289.
• Made notification requirements simpler and more flexible, to be more responsive to modern development and distribution practices.
• Modernized and simplified patent language to be more in line with other major open source licenses.
• Made compatible with the Apache License and (optionally) the GPL.
• Improved globalization, including removal of many US-specific terms and concepts.
• Removed “Original Software” and “Initial Developer” concepts.

For further details on the changes since MPL 1.1, please refer to the Beta discussion document and the archived  documents for each Alpha release.

We’re still seeking participation and commentary from both the Mozilla community and the broader community of MPL and FLOSS users. There are two key ways to get involved:

• Give general questions and feedback (“I don’t understand Section 10″) through our mailing list.
• Give specific textual comments (“This word should be capitalized”) through our commenting tool.

If you’ve already been involved, please don’t stop at reading and commenting! You can also help by telling other MPL users about the process and circulating the beta draft widely. In just the past month, two significant MPL-using projects have become involved in the drafting for the first time, leading to some meaningful improvements in the language of the license, and we expect others are out there. There is still time for other them to become involved- but only if you help them by letting them know about the process.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration- we’re proud of both the product and the process that created it, and hope it will ensure that the license remains robust and useful for another decade.

The MPL team is excited to announce the third Alpha draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License.

The text of Alpha 3 is available. We have also published a discussion document, including markup showing the changes made since Alpha 2 and an explanation of those changes.

There are several significant changes in this release, including a new section further defining what rights are and are not granted, a mechanism for supplementing the limitations of liability and disclaimers of warranty, more structured termination language, and language to allow optional compatibility with the GPL.

We hope that this will be the last Alpha draft. Once we collect and process all feedback on the venue and GPL-compatibility clauses, we expect to issue Beta 1 and focus on smaller changes in preparation for a final version of the document.

Just like the first two Alpha releases, we welcome general questions and feedback through our mailing list, and specific comments through our commenting tool. We again ask that the community of MPL users carefully inspect the sections that have changed, and circulate them widely. If you have significant changes you’d like to propose, or significant structural criticisms to make, now is the time.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration- we’re excited to keep moving forward with this process, and to have the end in sight.

The MPL team is excited to announce the second Alpha draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License.

The text of Alpha 2 is available. We have also published a discussion document, including markup showing the changes made since Alpha 1 and an explanation of those changes.

The highlight of this release is new patent language, modeled on Apache’s. We believe that this language should give better protection to MPL-using communities, make it possible for MPL-licensed projects to use Apache code, and be simpler to understand. The draft also contains two different proposals to improve our language concerning venue and law used for settling disputes. We welcome feedback on anything in the draft, but particularly on these two significant changes.

Just like the first Alpha release, we welcome general questions and feedback through our mailing list, and specific comments through our commenting tool. We continue to read all comments submitted through co-ment, and two comments from co-ment are reflected in the current draft. As with the last draft, we would ask that the community of MPL users carefully inspect the sections that have changed, and circulate them widely. While we’ve been careful in making changes, and generally believe the changes make the license easier to understand, we want to ensure that there are no unintended side-effects, so the more eyeballs on the license the better.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration- we’re excited to keep moving forward with this process.

Last week the Mozilla community had quite a few releases, and the MPL team, not wanting to be left out, is excited to announce the first Alpha draft of the next version of the Mozilla Public License.

The text of the Alpha is available here, and an annotated version, including commentary and links to previous discussions of most of the included changes, is available here.

We should stress that while this draft includes a substantial number of changes, it is not feature complete- we continue to consider significant revisions to some areas of the text, like patents and compatibility with other licenses. It is also not something that should be used to release software under- please wait until the final release for that!

We welcome general questions and feedback through our mailing list, and specific comments through our commenting tool. In particular, we would ask that our community, and other users of the MPL, carefully inspect the sections that have changed, and circulate them widely. While we’ve been careful in making changes, and generally believe the changes make the license easier to understand, we want to ensure that there are no unintended side-effects, so the more eyeballs on the license the better.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration- we’re excited to keep moving forward with this process.

Because we’ve started publishing revisions to sections of the MPL, some sections of mpl.mozilla.org were becoming outdated. In particular, we just updated several of the issues pages to make sure that they link to these new revisions, so that people interested in a particular topic can easily find revisions that might impact those topics.

We’ve also received a Byelorussian translation of Mitchell’s blog post announcing our progress; if you speak Byelorussian, make sure to check it out, and contact us if you have more translations!

Hello! We’ve been quiet for a while since we posted a set of changes but in the mean time we’ve been working, and a few minutes ago we posted a call for feedback on the next proposed revisions to the Mozilla Public License. These revisions cover Sections 1-3 of the license (definitions, grants, and conditions). To find out more, you can join our mailing list, and you can read the changes (and comment on them) using our co-ment tool. Some brief commentary on the changes was posted to the mailing list, and is also below the fold of this post. We look forward to hearing feedback and making the new license better.
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