A free command line utility X can be download from the web.
I have built a utility Y which relies on X.
The license of X does not allow me to bundle it with Y.
Am I allowed to do any of the following?
- In my README tell the user “go to X site and download it”.
- In my installation get user approval to automatically download X from the web.
- same as #2 but without user approval.
- bundle X – it’s free anyway (and so is Y).
I know I will not get a perfect legal advise here but I want to hear your opinions.
Since you commented that is not a library but an standalone application, I would read the license carefully because is possible that even use the tool from your application is not allowed, maybe it’s only free for standalone use.
As other people have commented, you should get legal advice since the legal jargon usually is quite difficult to grasp for non-lawyers…