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2026

Simple Public License 2.0

Also known as SimPL, SimPL 2.0, SimPL-2.0, Simple Public License, Simple Public License 2.0.

Commercial use
allowed
Share alike
required
Attribution
required (keep the copyright and license notices)
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Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/SimPL-2.0

Permissions

  • Charge distribution fee from the text Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Commercial use from the text Using the work to generate income, directly or indirectly, for example by selling it or by using it in advertising.
  • Derivative works from the text Distributing an adaptation of the work and making it available to the public.
  • Derive from the text Creating a new work from the work, such as a translation, adaptation or arrangement of it or of a part of it.

    Duties

    • Add statement from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Attaching terms, notices or statements of one's own to the work or to one's modifications when passing it on.
    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • Notice from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Display from the text Showing the work to the public without making a copy the viewer keeps.
  • Distribute from the text Providing copies of the work to the public or to anyone else.

    Duties

    • Add statement from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Attaching terms, notices or statements of one's own to the work or to one's modifications when passing it on.
    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Modified works from the text Distributing a modified version of the work that does not amount to a new, derivative work.
  • Modify from the text Altering the work, for example by updating it, without creating a new work; an alteration that creates a new work is Derive.

    Duties

    • Add statement from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Attaching terms, notices or statements of one's own to the work or to one's modifications when passing it on.
    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • Notice from the text The text says: "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Present from the text Performing the work in public, including by broadcast or other communication to the public.
  • Reproduce from the text Making copies of the work in any form.

Prohibitions

  • Add limitation from the text Not permitted: Add limitation. The text says: "Licensing it to everyone under SimPL, or substantially similar terms (such as GPL 2.0), without adding further restrictions to the rights provided;" Adding further limitations or restrictions to the license terms when passing the work on.
  • Change license from the text Not permitted: Change license. Replacing the license of the work, or of an adaptation, with another license, or changing its terms.
  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. Using the name or trademarks of the licensor or of contributors to endorse or promote a product.

License-wide duties

  • Share alike from the text Adaptations have to be licensed under the same license or one the license names as compatible.

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

No default rule of that graph reaches this license: it speaks about every act the rules are about.

Further terms

These are the things the license says about itself beyond the acts it permits, forbids and requires: when it ends, how long there is to put a breach right, which law governs it, and so on. A term that comes from the DALICC vocabulary links to its definition.

Terminates on breach
Yes

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

You get NO WARRANTIES. None of any kind;

Limitation of liability

If the software damages you in any way, you may only recover direct damages up to the amount you paid for it (that is zero if you did not pay anything). You may not recover any other damages, including those called "consequential damages." (The state or country where you live may not allow you to limit your liability in this way, so this may not apply to you);

Additional clauses

Licensing it to everyone under SimPL, or substantially similar terms (such as GPL 2.0), without adding further restrictions to the rights provided;

Info

Target asset types
Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://opensource.org/license/SiMPL-2.0
Legal code
https://opensource.org/license/SiMPL-2.0
This description is published under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
SPDX identifier
SimPL-2.0 on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
SimPL-2.0

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar 

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/SimPL-2.0",
  "license-title": "Simple Public License 2.0",
  "spdx-id": "SimPL-2.0",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle 

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/SimPL-2.0> .

RDF, JSON-LD 

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/SimPL-2.0"
  }
}

HTML attribution 

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/SimPL-2.0" rel="license">Simple Public License 2.0</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge DALICC badge for Simple Public License 2.0

Markdown 

[![License: Simple Public License 2.0](https://dalicc.net/license-library/SimPL-2.0/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/SimPL-2.0)

HTML 

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/SimPL-2.0"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/SimPL-2.0/badge.svg" alt="License: Simple Public License 2.0"></a>

Review

Written from the license text by
Giray Havur
Written on
2026-09-15
Second review
not yet done
Record changed since this review
yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings
11 recorded, 4 applied to the record, 1 proposed

Models the Simple Public License 2.0, a plain-language rendering of GPL 2.0. The record follows GPL-2.0-only: license-wide cc:ShareAlike, source code on distribution, modification notices, and a bar on relicensing. The licence says it should be read as consistent with GPL 2.0, and the record models what it says rather than what GPL 2.0 says.

11 findings

  • info Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId none

    File name, license id, SPDX id and IRI agree. cc:legalcode keeps the mixed-case spelling SiMPL-2.0 of the OSI URL named in the SPDX seeAlso list, while the id is the SPDX spelling SimPL-2.0. dct:publisher is left out: the text names no steward.

  • info Rubric 2 odrl:target none

    dcmitype:Software only: 'The SimPL applies to the software's source and object code'.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    'You get the royalty free right to: Use the software for any purpose; Make derivative works of it (this is called a "Derived Work"); Copy and distribute it and any Derived Work.' The record carries reproduce, distribute, modify, derive, display, present, commercial use, derivative works and modified works; dalicc:chargeDistributionFee follows GPL-2.0-only, whose record carries it for the same plain-language grant.

  • major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

    dalicc:promote for 'comes with any rights that I have in it (other than trademarks)', dalicc:addLimitation for 'without adding further restrictions to the rights provided', and dalicc:ChangeLicense for the share-alike condition.

  • major Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

    cc:ShareAlike is license-wide, matching GPL-2.0-only: the give-back conditions bind whatever you distribute, not only the files you changed. cc:SourceCode, cc:Attribution, cc:Notice and dalicc:addStatement ('Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license') hang off distribute, modify and derive; dalicc:modificationNotice is added to modify and derive for 'Prominently noting the date of any changes you make'.

  • minor Rubric 6 dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer applied

    'You get NO WARRANTIES. None of any kind;' is quoted into dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer and the damages bullet into dalicc:LiabilityLimitation, both with the bullet marker stripped and nothing else changed. The share-alike bullet, the termination bullets and the licence for the licence text are quoted in dalicc:additionalClauses.

  • info Rubric 7 cc:jurisdiction none

    'The SimPL continues perpetually' is the text's own word for dalicc:validityType dalicc:perpetual; no legal system is named.

  • gap Rubric 8 odrl:duty proposed

    The share-alike condition accepts 'substantially similar terms (such as GPL 2.0)'. dalicc:shareAlikeVersionQualifier, defined by the 2026-09-15 review and applied to no record, is the term for this; it is not in the predicate order the modelling conventions give, so the clause is quoted instead. Proposed: add dalicc:shareAlikeVersionQualifier "the same licence or substantially similar terms" to this record.

  • gap Rubric 8 dalicc:additionalClauses none

    Automatic termination on breach has no property that a record can carry: dalicc:terminationOnBreach is a policy quality with no predicate. The clause is quoted in dalicc:additionalClauses. Proposed term: dalicc:terminatesOnBreach as a boolean property on odrl:Set, with the cure period as a literal. Text: 'The SimPL continues perpetually, except that your license rights end automatically if: You do not abide by the "give back to the community" terms'.

  • info Rubric 9 record none

    The consistency check of app.services.composer, run with the 39 axioms of licensedata/dependencygraph/dg_default.ttl, returned no conflicts.

  • info Rubric 10 record none

    Deontically almost identical to GPL-2.0-only, which is what the licence intends. It differs by the dalicc:addStatement duty, by the addLimitation prohibition and by the wider share-alike target. A separate record is justified: it is a distinct SPDX entry whose plain wording is what a user of it actually agrees to.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

  1. Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

    The changes since version 1 recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on, named the license the record itself is published under and removed the quotes that do not name the act they support.

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    8 changes

    • changed permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:SourceCode quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license."

    • changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement]

      was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement]

      Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:SourceCode quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license."

    • changed permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty cc:SourceCode quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Conspicuously announcing that it is available under that license."

    • changed prohibition dalicc:addLimitation

      was prohibition dalicc:addLimitation

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "Licensing it to everyone under SimPL, or substantially similar terms (such as GPL 2.0), without adding further restrictions to the rights provided;"

    • added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>

      Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.

    • changed permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      Manual edit Removed the quoted evidence of duty cc:Attribution on odrl:derive, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:distribute, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:modify, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:derive, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:distribute, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:modify: the quoted sentence does not name the act. The statements stay, read from the text without a linked quote.

    • changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement]

      was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement]

      Manual edit Removed the quoted evidence of duty cc:Attribution on odrl:derive, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:distribute, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:modify, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:derive, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:distribute, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:modify: the quoted sentence does not name the act. The statements stay, read from the text without a linked quote.

    • changed permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:addStatement, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      Manual edit Removed the quoted evidence of duty cc:Attribution on odrl:derive, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:distribute, duty cc:Attribution on odrl:modify, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:derive, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:distribute, duty cc:SourceCode on odrl:modify: the quoted sentence does not name the act. The statements stay, read from the text without a linked quote.

  2. Version 1

    Created from the license text on 2026-09-15 (Reciprocal and source-available).

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Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.