Does a GPL licensed font influence my own application's license? [closed]

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

This question does not appear to be about programming within the scope define开发者_C百科d in the help center.

Closed 7 years ago.

Improve this question

I want to use a GPL-licensed font in my Application but I don't want to use GPL for the App itself.

Are there any other obligations except providing the the source of the font and the mentioning of GPL?

---

If the font is GPL proper, then you can't embed the actual stroke data in the application without making the license for the application GPL-compatible. If it's "GPL with exceptions" then embedding may be acceptable provided the font itself is made available. The embedding bit is why GPL is considered to be an inferior license for fonts. Otherwise the GPLed font does not interfere with the application license.

---

My suggestion is to look for and use OFL fonts.

SIL Open Font License (OFL) fonts allow your font to be used for ANY purpose without restriction, only reserving the rights that derivative fonts cannot be named the same name as its derived from, and you can't sell the fonts by themselves. A growing collection is found across the web today in many languages. Here's a good set to start: http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/

My assessment so far is that the intention of GPL is to treat fonts also as software, thus any inclusion of GPL software in your software requires you to release your software under GPL. The optional "font exception" clause that is entered mentions only "this font does not by itself cause the resulting DOCUMENT to be covered by the GNU General Public License." I think the word choice is intentional, since the objective of GPL is for the promotion of free software.