Solus is seeking to relicense its package repository under MPL-2.0 after infrastructure moves left licensing information unclear.
The project has begun contacting contributors who have not approved the change.
The license choice is also intended to make it easier to exchange package instructions with aerynOS, which uses MPL-2.0.
How did the ambiguity arise?
In May 2026, Solus announced that there were ambiguities regarding the repository license, which arose as it changed the way it organized its work.
Originally, the instructions were in a repository and were licensed under the GPL-2.0-or-later license. When development was moved to a platform managed by Solus itself, the instructions were split into separate repositories, but the files that mentioned their license were not moved. Later, Solus returned to GitHub and consolidated the instructions into the repository. getsolus/packages, but without correcting the lack of information about the license.
Without clear terms, it is unclear whether and how others can legally use, modify, or redistribute the content. This also complicates contributions from people who have contributed work without explicit permission to reuse it.
Why was MPL-2.0 chosen?
MPL-2.0 requires that changes to files covered by it remain under the same license. However, it allows those files to be combined with code that has a different license.
aerynOS also uses MPL-2.0. Solus chose the same license so that the two distributions could more easily exchange instructions for preparing programs.
Solus already uses the ent and boulder tools developed by aerynOS in limited parts of its process. It also plans to gradually port its existing guidelines to the format used by aerynOS. This will allow the two projects to share their work rather than maintaining separate guidelines for the same software.
Solus has already adapted part of its kernel packaging process to aerynOS. The two projects are continuing to work on making their packaging systems work better together. However, the exchange of instructions cannot proceed as planned until the Solus repository license is resolved.
Solus has started contacting contributors who have not approved the change and has sent out the first round of emails. They can give their consent by replying to the email or commenting on the relevant issue on GitHub (#7815).
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