---
key: bootloader-exception
short_name: Bootloader Distribution Exception to GPL 2.0
name: Bootloader Distribution Exception to GPL 2.0 or later
category: Copyleft Limited
owner: PyInstaller Project
homepage_url: https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/blob/develop/COPYING.txt
is_exception: yes
spdx_license_key: Bootloader-exception
other_urls:
    - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt
standard_notice: |
    ================================
    The PyInstaller licensing terms
    ================================
    Copyright (c) 2010-2018, PyInstaller Development Team
    Copyright (c) 2005-2009, Giovanni Bajo
    Based on previous work under copyright (c) 2002 McMillan Enterprises, Inc.
    PyInstaller is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License
    as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
    License, or (at your option) any later version.
    Bootloader Exception
    --------------------
    In addition to the permissions in the GNU General Public License, the
    authors give you unlimited permission to link or embed compiled bootloader
    and related files into combinations with other programs, and to distribute
    those combinations without any restriction coming from the use of those
    files. (The General Public License restrictions do apply in other respects;
    for example, they cover modification of the files, and distribution when
    not linked into a combine executable.)
    Bootloader and Related Files
    ----------------------------
    Bootloader and related files are files which are embedded within the
    final executable. This includes files in directories:
    ./bootloader/
    ./PyInstaller/loader
    About the PyInstaller Development Team
    --------------------------------------
    The PyInstaller Development Team is the set of contributors
    to the PyInstaller project. A full list with details is kept
    in the documentation directory, in the file
    ``doc/CREDITS.rst``.
    The core team that coordinates development on GitHub can be found here:
    https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller. As of 2015, it consists of:
    * Hartmut Goebel
    * Martin Zibricky
    * David Vierra
    * David Cortesi
    Our Copyright Policy
    --------------------
    PyInstaller uses a shared copyright model. Each contributor maintains
    copyright over their contributions to PyInstaller. But, it is important to
    note that these contributions are typically only changes to the repositories.
    Thus, the PyInstaller source code, in its entirety is not the copyright of
    any single person or institution. Instead, it is the collective copyright of
    the entire PyInstaller Development Team. If individual contributors want to
    maintain a record of what changes/contributions they have specific copyright
    on, they should indicate their copyright in the commit message of the
    change, when they commit the change to the PyInstaller repository.
    With this in mind, the following banner should be used in any source code
    file to indicate the copyright and license terms:
    #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Copyright (c) 2005-20l5, PyInstaller Development Team.
    #
    # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License with
    # exception for distributing bootloader.
    #
    # The full license is in the file COPYING.txt, distributed with this software.
    #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

Bootloader Exception

In addition to the permissions in the GNU General Public License, the authors give you unlimited permission to link or embed compiled bootloader and related files into combinations with other programs, and to distribute those combinations without any restriction coming from the use of those files. (The General Public License restrictions do apply in other respects; for example, they cover modification of the files, and distribution when not linked into a combined executable.)