License Compat Matrix

Conservative guide to project and dependency licence combinations by use case; unclassified cases remain for legal review.

About this tool

Select the planned project licence, dependency licence, and use case. The guide distinguishes separate programs, a combined work distributed together, and a network service. It intentionally leaves facts such as linking, modification, distribution and licence-version options for legal review.

Sources checked 17 September 2026: GNU GPL FAQ and GNU compatibility guidance. They explain, among other points, that Apache-2.0 is incompatible with GPL-2.0 but compatible with GPL-3.0, and that separate programs do not form one combined work.