📢 Proposed License Change: LGPL → MPL 2.0 (Feedback Requested)

[untoldengine]

Hi everyone,

I want to share a proposed licensing change for Untold Engine and explain the reasoning behind it before anything is finalized.

This is an announcement and discussion — no changes have been made yet.

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Why consider a license change?

Untold Engine is currently licensed under LGPL v3. While LGPL has served the project well, over time a few challenges have become clear:

• App Store friction, especially for Apple platforms (iOS / visionOS)
• Confusion around dynamic vs static linking
• Uncertainty for contributors and developers shipping commercial products

The goal is not to make Untold Engine more restrictive — it’s the opposite:
to make it simpler, clearer, and safer to use, especially for real-world shipping projects.

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The proposed new license: MPL 2.0

I am proposing to transition Untold Engine from LGPL v3 to the
Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL 2.0).

In short:

• ✅ Commercial use is explicitly allowed
• ✅ App Store / Vision App Store–friendly
• ✅ No dynamic linking or relinking requirements
• ✅ No requirement to open your game or application code
• ✅ Improvements to the engine itself must be shared (file-level copyleft)

Plain-English summary:

You can build and ship proprietary products freely.
If you modify Untold Engine’s source files, those modified files must be made available under MPL.

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What this means for developers

If you use Untold Engine as-is:

• Nothing changes for you
• No source disclosure required
• Ship normally

If you modify the engine itself:

• Modified engine files must be published
• Your game/app code remains private

This removes the gray areas that currently exist with LGPL on Apple platforms.

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What this means for contributors

• Untold Engine remains open source
• Contributions continue to be welcome
• Improvements to the core stay open and benefit everyone
• No contributor is required to pay or sign up for anything new

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Editor & tooling direction (important context)

This proposal is part of a broader effort to clarify project structure:

• Engine runtime: open source
• Editor core: open source
• Advanced editor tooling and performance features: may live in separate, optional, proprietary modules

The engine itself will remain fully usable without paid tooling.

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What to expect next

If this change moves forward, the next steps would be:

1. Gather feedback from the community
2. Audit existing contributions
3. Clearly document the transition plan
4. Make the change in a future release (no retroactive surprises)

There will be no silent license changes.

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Feedback welcome

Before proceeding, I’d like to hear from contributors and users:

• Does MPL 2.0 address your concerns?
• Are there edge cases you’re worried about?
• Would this make Untold Engine easier or harder for you to use?

Please reply here with thoughts, concerns, or questions.

Thanks for being part of Untold Engine and helping shape its future.

— Harold

[miogds]

Sound good. Also avoids the confusion and management of 2 different licenses, the open source one and the commercial one. I'll check with my friends to see what they think about it.