# License of the ruby standard library

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/license-of-the-ruby-standard-library/120376>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [November 16, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/license-of-the-ruby-standard-library/120376 "2007-11-16T11:11:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/thilinamb)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/license-of-the-ruby-standard-library/120376/1 "2007-11-16T11:11:30Z")

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hi,  
I am not going to ask any technical issue. What is the license that is  
applied for the Ruby standard library(which is distributed with ruby  
installation).

Can we redistribute it ?

thanks and regards,  
buddhika

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**Author:** ![thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/thilinamb)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 5:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/license-of-the-ruby-standard-library/120376/2 "2007-11-17T05:13:17Z")

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[http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/net/http/rdoc/index.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/net/http/rdoc/index.html)  
Says:  
“This program is free software. You can re-distribute and/or modify this  
program under the same terms of ruby itself — Ruby Distribution License  
or GNU General Public License.”

So that would be a dual license of the Ruby Distribution License or  
the GPL.

Ruby distribution license is documented in:

[http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt](http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt)

and the GPL 1/2 text can be found at:  
[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#GPL](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#GPL)

while the GPL version 3 is at [The GNU General Public License v3.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation](http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)

Ron.

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**Author:** ![thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@thilinamb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/thilinamb)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/license-of-the-ruby-standard-library/120376/3 "2007-11-17T09:47:09Z")

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On Nov 16, 2007 6:10 AM, Ron F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> [http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/net/http/rdoc/index.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/net/http/rdoc/index.html)  
> Says:  
> “This program is free software. You can re-distribute and/or modify this  
> program under the same terms of ruby itself — Ruby Distribution License  
> or GNU General Public License.”
> 
> So that would be a dual license of the Ruby Distribution License or  
> the GPL.

That’s a sample of 1 from the components of the standard library.

There are actually a variety of licensing terms in the various pieces of  
ruby.

Unfortunately the picture isn’t entirely clear see for example  
[http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/127946#570845](http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/127946#570845)

–  
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby  
[http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/)