| Version | 1.0, 2.0 |
|---|---|
| Published | 2007 |
| DFSG compatible | ? |
| Free software | Yes[1] |
| OSI approved | Yes[2] |
| GPL compatible | Yes[1] |
| Copyleft | No[1] |
| Linking from code with a different license | Yes |
The Educational Community License (ECL) is a free and open source license based on the Apache license (version 2.0) and created with the specific needs of the academic community in mind[2].
Version 2 of the ECL came out of the Licensing and Policy Summit[3] held in October of 2006 in Indianapolis, Indiana where members of the academic community came together to address the concerns of releasing software written at an academic institution under a free/open source license. Members of the summit included university attorneys, technology transfer officers, free/open source project leaders, and foundation representatives. In particular, representatives of the Sakai Project and Kuali Foundation were in attendance.
ECL version 2 was approved by the Open Source Initiative in the Summer of 2007, and the Free Software Foundation lists it as being a "GPL-Compatible Free Software License" that is compatible with version 3 of the GNU General Public License but not compatible with GPLv2[1]. This means that a software developer can mix code from an ECLv2 licensed project and a GPLv3 licensed project but, due to license terms incompatibility, they are not allowed to mix code from a ECLv2 project and a GPLv2 project.