From a license point of view, is it possible to use a font from Linux to create another font based on it?

Question

Fonts

OS: lubuntu 20.04
Software: libreOffice
There are many fonts in the fonts section of the application, which can be found in the fonts directory in ttf format.
I was interested in one of the fonts that needs to be redone.
How can I find out who is the copyright holder of a given font?
As my intuition tells me, can this font be used for personal non-commercial purposes, and is it absolutely legal to MODIFY it?
How legal is publishing a MODIFIED font in terms of license?
How to find out the license under which the font is distributed, are there many options?

Answer 1

From a license point of view, is it possible to use a font from Linux to create another font based on it?

Depends on the license for a specific font. Some fonts allow this, while others do not.

How can I find out who is the copyright holder of a given font?

You can google the name of the font.
Since you didn’t give the name of the font, I’ll do it using Fira Code as an example:
1. Using Google, we found a github: https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode
2. It uses the SIL Open Font License 1.1
3. This license allows you to do whatever change and use the font (including selling as part of other software)
4. This license obliges to refer to the original font and its author + distribute under the same license
5. The license prohibits using the original font name and selling the modified font not as part of another product.

Answer 2

License GNU GPL

You can "copy, modify and distribute (including on a commercial basis)".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandas_(typeface)
Please note that other fonts supplied in your build of libreOffice may have a different license, you need to check each one separately.