MulanPSL-2.0 is an OSI-approved permissive license with an express patent grant, published in Chinese and English. The Chinese text prevails if the two diverge.
On this page
What it does
MulanPSL-2.0 is a permissive license from China's open-source ecosystem, approved by the Open Source Initiative and published in parallel Chinese and English texts. Section 6 gives both texts the same legal effect and makes the Chinese text prevail if the two ever diverge. You may use it commercially, modify it, keep your changes closed, and redistribute in source or binary form. You have to give recipients a copy of the license and keep the copyright, patent, trademark and disclaimer statements in the software. Unlike MIT, it carries an express patent grant from contributors, and that grant ends if you bring a patent claim over the covered software.
Details
In practice this behaves like Apache-2.0 without the NOTICE file convention. You can ship it inside a closed product, host it as a service, and publish nothing of your own. The patent grant is the part worth telling your own legal team about. A contributor gives you a patent license for their contribution, and it ends if you sue over patents in that software. Two more things matter for the record. Both language versions have the same legal effect, and section 6 makes the Chinese text control on any divergence, so storing only the English half stores the text that yields. The license also grants no trademark rights.
Pros
- Easy to drop into a closed, paid product. Procurement has seen this family hundreds of times.
- No copyleft on your own files. You keep your source private.
Cons
- The notice duty is easy to miss in a desktop, mobile, or container build. A web page is not a substitute for notices inside the artifact.
- Buyers who want an express patent grant will ask you to prefer Apache-2.0 over a short MIT-style text.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Commercial use
You may ship the code inside a paid product. The license does not restrict commercial use.
Modify
You may change the code, including keeping those changes private, unless a later obligation says otherwise.
Distribute
You may give copies to others. Distribution is what usually turns notice and source duties into real work.
Sublicense
You may include the code under your own product terms, so long as you still meet this license's conditions.
Private use
Use inside your company, including internal forks, does not by itself trigger distribution duties.
Patent use
The license includes an express patent grant from contributors for the licensed work.
Limits
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Use trademark
The license is not a trademark license. Names, logos and product marks stay with their owners unless a separate grant says otherwise.
Obligations
Include copyright
Keep the copyright line with every copy or substantial portion you distribute.
Include license
Keep the license text with every copy or substantial portion you distribute. A web page is not a substitute for notices inside a shipped artifact.
What MulanPSL-2.0 requires when you ship
When a copy that includes MulanPSL-2.0 code leaves your company, the grant is broad and the paperwork is easy to miss. Distribution here means an installer, a mobile binary, a container image, or an SDK another team embeds. Work this list against the artifact you actually hand over, not against a README. A hosted service that never gives out a copy still belongs on the record, but the notice duty does not fire until a copy exists.
You are meeting the notice condition when a copy of the license and the copyright, patent, trademark and disclaimer statements ship with every distribution, in source or binary form.
You are keeping the record honest when the stored text is the official bilingual version from upstream, because section 6 makes the Chinese text prevail over the English one.
You still hold the patent grant as long as you have not started patent litigation over the covered software against a contributor.
You are clear on branding when you do not use a contributor's trademarks or project name in your own, because this license grants no trademark rights.
You have nothing further to do for a hosted service. There is no source duty, no network trigger, and no rules about how you link the code.
The duties named in MulanPSL-2.0
The license text itself is short. These are the named conditions. They follow the code, including files you vendor into your own repository and transitive packages in the lockfile.
Include copyright
Keep the copyright line with every copy or substantial portion you distribute.
Include license
Keep the license text with every copy or substantial portion you distribute. A web page is not a substitute for notices inside a shipped artifact.
Things to be aware of
- Only the English text is stored. Section 6 makes the Chinese text prevail if the two diverge, so keep the bilingual file exactly as upstream publishes it.
- Permissive is read as meaning no patent terms. This license has a patent grant with a retaliation clause, which changes how your patent counsel sees it.
- The upstream project name or logo turns up in your marketing. The license grants copyright permissions, not the right to use a contributor's brand.
What the Mulan Permissive Software License v2 does not do
Search results often flatten Mulan Permissive Software License v2 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. MulanPSL-2.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- Mulan Permissive Software License v2 does not require you to publish your own source. Combining it with closed code is the point of the grant.
- Mulan Permissive Software License v2 does not mean "no obligations." The copyright line and license text still have to travel with copies you hand to other people.
- It is not a patent license unless the text says so. MIT-family grants say nothing about patents.
How MulanPSL-2.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with MulanPSL-2.0, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- MulanPSL-2.0
- MulanPSL-2.0 is an OSI-approved permissive license with an express patent grant, published in Chinese and English. The Chinese text prevails if the two diverge.
- Apache-2.0
- Permissive like MIT, plus an express patent grant. The catch is the NOTICE file: it has to travel inside the binaries you ship.
Common questions about Mulan Permissive Software License v2
Answers to common questions about what Mulan Permissive Software License v2 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Mulan Permissive Software License v2?
MulanPSL-2.0 is a permissive license from China's open-source ecosystem, approved by the Open Source Initiative and published in parallel Chinese and English texts. Section 6 gives both texts the same legal effect and makes the Chinese text prevail if the two ever diverge. You may use it commercially, modify it, keep your changes closed, and redistribute in source or binary form. You have to give recipients a copy of the license and keep the copyright, patent, trademark and disclaimer statements in the software. Unlike MIT, it carries an express patent grant from contributors, and that grant ends if you bring a patent claim over the covered software.
What does MulanPSL-2.0 require when you ship a product?
You are meeting the notice condition when a copy of the license and the copyright, patent, trademark and disclaimer statements ship with every distribution, in source or binary form. You are keeping the record honest when the stored text is the official bilingual version from upstream, because section 6 makes the Chinese text prevail over the English one. You still hold the patent grant as long as you have not started patent litigation over the covered software against a contributor. You are clear on branding when you do not use a contributor's trademarks or project name in your own, because this license grants no trademark rights. You have nothing further to do for a hosted service. There is no source duty, no network trigger, and no rules about how you link the code.
Does MulanPSL-2.0 require me to open my own source?
It is not a patent license unless the text says so. MIT-family grants say nothing about patents.
How do I attribute MulanPSL-2.0 in a product I ship?
Attribution for MulanPSL-2.0 means the copyright line and the license text travel with every copy a recipient actually gets. That can be an about screen, a licenses file inside the installer, or a notice in the container image. A public page helps a buyer audit the inventory. It does not replace notices inside the artifact. If you copied files into your own repository, the header on those files still has to stay.
Is a website notice enough for MulanPSL-2.0?
No. MulanPSL-2.0 talks about copies. A public attestation page is the honest list for procurement. The condition is met when the notices sit in the material you hand over. Put them in the installer, the about screen, or a licenses file inside the binary, then keep the same texts on the page.
Do transitive MulanPSL-2.0 dependencies count?
Yes. The condition follows the code, not the package you chose by name. If the lockfile pulled in MulanPSL-2.0 transitively and you distribute that tree, those notices travel too. Listing only direct dependencies is how teams miss the duty.
How is MulanPSL-2.0 different from Apache License 2.0?
MulanPSL-2.0 asks this: MulanPSL-2.0 is an OSI-approved permissive license with an express patent grant, published in Chinese and English. The Chinese text prevails if the two diverge. Apache License 2.0 asks this: Permissive like MIT, plus an express patent grant. The catch is the NOTICE file: it has to travel inside the binaries you ship. Open the Apache License 2.0 page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record MulanPSL-2.0 for a buyer?
SourceTrust fetches the published artifact for the package, extracts the license files it contains, and compares that text against the declared SPDX id. A bilingual license file is one text as far as the comparison is concerned, so the stored record keeps both halves rather than a translation of one. That stored text is what your attestation page and every export file carry.
Where do I record MulanPSL-2.0 for a buyer?
SourceTrust fetches the published artifact for the package, extracts the license files it contains, and compares that text against the declared SPDX id. A bilingual license file is one text as far as the comparison is concerned, so the stored record keeps both halves rather than a translation of one.
That stored text is what your attestation page and every export file carry. Read /docs/auto-fetch-license for how the fetch decides and what each outcome means.
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.