Cea Cnrs Inria Logiciel Libre License, version 2.1

Also known as CECILL-2.1.

Commercial use: allowed
Share alike: not 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/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21

Permissions

Charge distribution fee from the text
Charge license fee from the text
Commercial use from the text
Derivative works from the text
Duties
- Attribution from the text
- Modification notice from the text
- Notice from the text
- Source code from the text
Derive from the text
Display from the text
Distribute from the text
Duties
- Attribution from the text
- Notice from the text
Grant use from the text
Modify from the text
No-warranty notice from the text
Present from the text
Reproduce from the text

Prohibitions

This license states no prohibitions.

License-wide duties

This license states no duties that apply to the work as a whole.

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.

Promote by default rule (adopted)

This license says nothing about Promote, and the graph applies this reading in all jurisdictions it covers: it is not permitted unless the license permits it.

A licence that says nothing about endorsement is read as not allowing it: the licence gives the licensee no right to use the licensor's name or marks in a way that states or implies that the licensor endorses the licensee or its product, while stating truthfully that a work is based on or uses the licensed work is a different act that this rule does not decide. A copyright licence grants rights in the work, and the right to use a name or a trademark is a separate right under trademark law and the protection of names, which a silent copyright licence does not pass on. Combining a licence that is silent about endorsement with one that permits it shows a conflict marked as coming from this rule.

Basis Trademark and name rights are separate from copyright: Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 article 9 lets the proprietor of an EU trade mark prevent all third parties not having his consent from using the sign in the course of trade, and Directive (EU) 2015/2436 article 10, 15 U.S.C. 1114 and 1125(a), section 12 BGB and section 43 ABGB protect marks and names in the same way. The library's evidence is Creative Commons 4.0 section 2(b)(2): Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License. A copyright licence that is silent grants no right to use the licensor's name or marks to suggest endorsement (Worldwide)

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

9.3 Le Licencié reconnaît que le Logiciel est fourni "en l'état" par le Concédant sans autre garantie, expresse ou tacite, que celle prévue à l'article 9.2 et notamment sans aucune garantie sur sa valeur commerciale, son caractère sécurisé, innovant ou pertinent. En particulier, le Concédant ne garantit pas que le Logiciel est exempt d'erreur, qu'il fonctionnera sans interruption, qu'il sera compatible avec l'équipement du Licencié et sa configuration logicielle ni qu'il remplira les besoins du Licencié.

Limitation of liability

8.1 Subject to the provisions of Article 8.2, the Licensee shall be entitled to claim compensation for any direct loss it may have suffered from the Software as a result of a fault on the part of the relevant Licensor, subject to providing evidence thereof. 8.2 The Licensor's liability is limited to the commitments made under this Agreement and shall not be incurred as a result of in particular: (i) loss due the Licensee's total or partial failure to fulfill its obligations, (ii) direct or consequential loss that is suffered by the Licensee due to the use or performance of the Software, and (iii) more generally, any consequential loss. In particular the Parties expressly agree that any or all pecuniary or business loss (i.e. loss of data, loss of profits, operating loss, loss of customers or orders, opportunity cost, any disturbance to business activities) or any or all legal proceedings instituted against the Licensee by a third party, shall constitute consequential loss and shall not provide entitlement to any or all compensation from the Licensor.

Info

Target asset types: Software
Region / jurisdiction: Worldwide
Validity: Perpetual
Source: http://opensource.org/licenses/CECILL-2.1
Legal code: http://www.cecill.info/licences/Licence_CeCILL_V2.1-fr.html
This description is published under: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher: CEA, CNRS, INRIA
Attribution name: CEA, CNRS, INRIA
SPDX identifier: CECILL-2.1 on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier: CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21

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/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21",
  "license-title": "Cea Cnrs Inria Logiciel Libre License, version 2.1",
  "spdx-id": "CECILL-2.1",
  "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/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21> .

RDF, JSON-LD

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21"
  }
}

HTML attribution

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21" rel="license">Cea Cnrs Inria Logiciel Libre License, version 2.1</a>.</p>

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

Badge

Markdown

[![License: Cea Cnrs Inria Logiciel Libre License, version 2.1](https://dalicc.net/license-library/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21)

HTML

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/CeaCnrsInriaLogicielLibreLicenseVersion21/badge.svg" alt="License: Cea Cnrs Inria Logiciel Libre License, version 2.1"></a>

Review

Status: Reviewed against the license text
Last checked: 2026-09-15
Reviewer: Giray Havur
Verdict: corrected during the review
Record changed since this review: yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings: 7 recorded, 3 applied to the record, 2 proposed

The CeCILL agreement version 2.1 is a strong copyleft license drafted under French law and designed to be compatible with the GNU GPL. The record prohibited cc:ShareAlike, which reverses article 5.3.2, and had no SPDX identifier. Both were fixed. The governing law of article 13 is not reflected in cc:jurisdiction.

7 findings

minor Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId applied

Added CECILL-2.1. The record already carried "CECILL-2.1" as dct:alternative and the Open Source Initiative page for that id as dct:source.
major Rubric 5 odrl:prohibition applied

Article 5.3.2 states: "les conditions de distribution du Logiciel Modifie en resultant sont alors soumises a l'integralite des dispositions du Contrat" (the modified software must be distributed under the whole of this agreement). The record prohibited cc:ShareAlike. Removed.
major Rubric 5 odrl:duty proposed

Reciprocity belongs as a license-wide cc:ShareAlike duty, as in the GNU records. Held back because the record permits odrl:grantUse and the dependency graph treats share-alike and grant-use as contradictory.
minor Rubric 7 cc:jurisdiction none

Article 13.1 states that the agreement is governed by French law and article 13.2 gives the courts of Paris jurisdiction. cc:jurisdiction is dalicc:worldwide. The territorial scope of the licence grant is indeed worldwide, so this is a question of whether the field means scope or governing law; docs/DATA.md does not say.
minor Rubric 1 cc:legalcode proposed

cc:legalcode points at the French text, Licence_CeCILL_V2.1-fr.html, while the record title and every literal in it are English. The SPDX entry links the English text. Adding the English URL alongside would make the record self-consistent.
gap Rubric 8 vocabulary none

Article 5.3.4 makes the license explicitly compatible with the GNU GPL, the GNU Affero GPL and the European Union Public Licence, a compatibility statement the dependency graph could use directly but no term expresses. Article 10 carries a patent grant. Proposed: dalicc:compatibleWith, dalicc:patentGrant.
major Rubric 10 record applied

Standard-license addition of 2026-09-15, decision 9: the record was corrected against its new siblings and versioned. The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.

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.

Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

The content review of 2026-09-15 added 1 identification detail, removed 1 prohibition and recorded the review state. Later changes brought it in line with its family and its text in the verification of 2026-09-15 and named the license the record itself is published under.

View version 2 JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML
11 changes
- added dalicc:reviewStatus dalicc:Reviewed
  
  Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.
- added dalicc:reviewedOn "2026-09-15"^^xsd:date
  
  Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.
- removed prohibition cc:ShareAlike
  
  Review finding Article 5.3.2 states: "les conditions de distribution du Logiciel Modifie en resultant sont alors soumises a l'integralite des dispositions du Contrat" (the modified software must be distributed under the whole of this agreement). The record prohibited cc:ShareAlike. Removed.
- added spdx:licenseId "CECILL-2.1"
  
  Review finding Added CECILL-2.1. The record already carried "CECILL-2.1" as dct:alternative and the Open Source Initiative page for that id as dct:source.
- changed cc:attributionName "CEA, CNRS, INRIA"
  
  was cc:attributionName " CEA, CNRS, INRIA"
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- added dalicc:LiabilityLimitation "8.1 Subject to the provisions of Article 8.2, the Licensee shall be entitled to claim compensation for any direct loss it may have suffered from the Software as a result of a fault on the part of the relevant Licensor, subject to providing evidence thereof. 8.2 The Licensor's liability is limited to the commitments made under this Agreement and shall not be incurred as a result of in particular: (i) loss due the Licensee's total or partial failure to fulfill its obligations, (ii) direct or consequential loss that is suffered by the Licensee due to the use or performance of the Software, and (iii) more generally, any consequential loss. In particular the Parties expressly agree that any or all pecuniary or business loss (i.e. loss of data, loss of profits, operating loss, loss of customers or orders, opportunity cost, any disturbance to business activities) or any or all legal proceedings instituted against the Licensee by a third party, shall constitute consequential loss and shall not provide entitlement to any or all compensation from the Licensor."
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- changed dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "9.3 Le Licencié reconnaît que le Logiciel est fourni \"en l'état\" par le Concédant sans autre garantie, expresse ou tacite, que celle prévue à l'article 9.2 et notamment sans aucune garantie sur sa valeur commerciale, son caractère sécurisé, innovant ou pertinent. En particulier, le Concédant ne garantit pas que le Logiciel est exempt d'erreur, qu'il fonctionnera sans interruption, qu'il sera compatible avec l'équipement du Licencié et sa configuration logicielle ni qu'il remplira les besoins du Licencié."
  
  was dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "8.1 Subject to the provisions of Article 8.2, the Licensee shall be entitled to claim compensation for any direct loss it may have suffered from the Software as a result of a fault on the part of the relevant Licensor, subject to providing evidence thereof. 8.2 The Licensor's liability is limited to the commitments made under this Agreement and shall not be incurred as a result of in particular: (i) loss due the Licensee's total or partial failure to fulfill its obligations, (ii) direct or consequential loss that is suffered by the Licensee due to the use or performance of the Software, and (iii) more generally, any consequential loss. In particular the Parties expressly agree that any or all pecuniary or business loss (i.e. loss of data, loss of profits, operating loss, loss of customers or orders, opportunity cost, any disturbance to business activities) or any or all legal proceedings instituted against the Licensee by a third party, shall constitute consequential loss and shall not provide entitlement to any or all compensation from the Licensor."
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- changed dct:publisher "CEA, CNRS, INRIA"
  
  was dct:publisher " CEA, CNRS, INRIA"
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- removed prohibition dalicc:addStatement
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- removed prohibition dalicc:promote
  
  Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer held Article 8, the liability article, and Article 9, the warranty article, was absent; the record prohibited dalicc:promote although CeCILL 2.1 has no trademark clause and prohibited dalicc:addStatement although Article 5.3.4 requires a statement; and cc:attributionName and dct:publisher both began with a space. Article 9.3 is quoted from the French legal code the record cites, which is the version that was retrieved.
- 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.
Version 1

The version this model had before the content review of 2026-09-15.

View version 1 JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML

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.