If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporatecommercial environment. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. Companies often do this by selling enterprise versions of opensource projects with extra security and management features. Jun 29, 2007 by contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a programto make sure it remains free software for all its users. You can sell the software, but you also have to make its source code freely. Heres the fsfs page on selling gpl software, basically yea, you can do that, but you still have to obey the license. The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. Licensing is a major part of what open source and free software are all about, but its still one of the most complicated areas of law. No, if my closed source code runs in kernelspace, then the consensus is that this code should be licensed under a gpl or gpl compatible license and. Jun 15, 2012 free software or copyleft licensing seems to have got off on the wrong foot with business, which is surprising given its many commercial benefits. Free software is a matter of liberty, not price free. You can sell merchandise, you can sell support, you can sell service powered by software, you can sell hardware that runs that software, but you cant profit from selling t. The group open source initiative osi defines and maintains a list of approved opensource licenses. If you want an example of including gpl d software as part of a commercial offering, look at os x.
Free software, and gpld software in particular, is the right choice. You can help to make sure that free software is always free by. Seancier writes were a small twoperson iphone app developer whose first game has recently been released in the app store. The gpl puts no limits on using free software commercially, its. If you use gpl source code in your software, then by. Users can still deploy and run the open source software. Why should i use the gnu gpl rather than other free software licenses.
This license allows software to be freely used, modified, and redistributed by anyone. These companies are distributing free software for a fee and selling support subscriptions or other services. They could then sell their support to your endusers. Pyqt comes with gpl v2 and gpl v3 as well as a commercial license. In a nutshell, the idea of lgpld projects usually libraries is that you are free to use them as you wish in your own application, be it open or closed source, free or proprietary. On selling exceptions to the gnu gpl free software foundation. The new license adjusts to software industry changes but carries several new provisions. Gpl license selling and stealing software engineering.
Does the gpl allow me to sell copies of the program for money. Many people believe that the spirit of the gnu project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possiblejust enough to cover the cost. So if im developing a library, why should i want to use a gpllike license. Using open source libraries with closed source software.
You can run it on any data interpreted program, any way you like, and there are no requirements about licensing that data to anyone. Selling exceptions depends fundamentally on using a copyleft license, such as the gnu gpl, for the free software release. Recently we published a brief summary of the 12 most popular digital products to sell online. Some software licences are specifically designed to prevent people from doing this type of activity, such as the gnu general public licence gnu gpl. This article by jerry epplin sheds some light on the issues associated with using gpl software in embedded applications, and attempts to dispel the. You can create a derivative work and sell it for large amounts of money, but you must comply with the gpllgpl.
Full functional specification for the product not required for 100% free software products. Mar 05, 2001 using gpl software in embedded applications. One thing to be careful of there are a lot of people who associate the gpl with free as in beer software, not just in freedom to do what you want with the software you get. The certification program provides corporations with the assurances they require when building products upon a free software infrastructure. The following licenses are free software licenses, but are not compatible with the gnu gpl.
The licenses were originally written by richard stallman, former head of the free software foundation fsf, for the gnu project, and grant the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition. Selling free software some views on the ideas of selling exceptions to free software licenses, such as the gnu gpl are also available. The licenses were originally written by richard stallman, former head of the free software foundation fsf, for the gnu project, and grant the recipients of a. But using open source software can delete at least one monthly fee.
This means the plugins must be released under the gpl or a gplcompatible free software license, and that the terms of the gpl must be followed when those plugins are distributed. The free software foundation and its sprout the gnu project are a core. The mit license is a permissive free software license originating at the massachusetts institute of technology mit in the late 1980s. The people to whom you sold copies of gpl software are just as free as you are to make copies and sell them for whatever price they feel is right, including a price equal to zero. From what i have read until now including the gpl license, i understand that you can sell a software that is licensed under gpl. Gpl or general public license, sometimes also called gnu gpl, is the most commonly used free software license.
There will be those that think, why pay for distributing free software. According to the fsf, for a piece of software to be considered truly free, its license must guarantee four essential freedoms to its users. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain without. Imagine that i make a font, and release it under a proprietary license, but then someone steals it, renames it, and published it as their own under the gpl. It considers free software permissive license group to be a reference implementation of a free software license. The terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification of gimp are clearly listed in the gnu general public license. This question regards the gpl license for open source software. A german court lends some weight to the important opensource license, the legal foundation of linux but an agreement that hasnt been interpreted by courts. Gpl and lgpl open source licensing restrictions stack. Now, you can make money on the open source model, but it has to be done at oblique angles. Gpl makes it impossible to earn money by selling the software itself. The difference between free and opensource software.
The gpl licence was set up to try and make software free and availble for public consumption. Ask you project lead why he doesnt want people to sell the software. First, this post covers almost exclusively gpl licensed software, but there are other freeopen source software foss licenses that. Top 10 gpl license questions answered resource center. Hello, software licensed under gpl can be modified and used locally on your machine as you wish. Free software is everywhere these days, inside our computers, phones, and even televisions. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu. Besides the rights and conditions given by the gpl, it would also be nice but not required to mention in any advertising that the product being sold is gimp or a bundle including gimp or is derived from it. No, if my closed source code runs in kernelspace, then the consensus is that this code should be licensed under a gpl or gplcompatible license and.
With so much free software being distributed every day, we have to remain vigilant against potential violations. Selling software under any free software licence is permissible, as is commercial use. Yes, the gpl license allows users to sell the original as well as the modified software. It was written by richard stallman of free software foundation for gnu project. A copyleft license permits embedding in a larger program only if the whole combined program is released under that license. To find out more about selling free open source software, please check these resources, which are the ones i used as my basis for this post. Developing software under gplv3 and selling the source code. Osi agrees with fsf on all widely used free software licenses, but differ from fsfs list, as it approves against the open source definition rather than the free software definition. For instance ibm can be assured that proprietary versions of the their software will not exist to compete on their hardware. The gnu general public license is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works. For example, you could say distributing free software for a feethat is unambiguous.
Can someone take a software under the gpl license, modify it and sell it in download form via the internet as a shareware application with 30 days timeout period. Due to system change, downsizing, closure of divisions, insolvency or other reasons. The difference between free and open source software. The software that i am refering to is qgis which provides this description. Explaining and understanding the gnu general public license. You can charge nothing, a penny, a dollar, or a billion dollars. So, running the code to fetch or process data is not copyingconveying, and thus outside the scope of the gpl. Also note that the gpl below is ed by the free software foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to the linux kernel is ed by me and others who actually wrote it. Many people believe that the spirit of the gnu project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possible.
Most would not unless theres more than just software. Do you have superfluous commercial software licences. Are the developers associated with companies selling gimp. Frequently answered questions open source initiative. If i can get the code of, modify and redistribute a gpl. Can gpl licenced software be used in corporate environments. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license compatibility it is compatible because it. Hence, gpl is set up in a way that selling it is quite difficult.
Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain. Another mistake, which has occasionally been seen since about 2008, is to assume that free software refers only to software licensed under copyleft licenses, since that is how the fsf typically releases software, while open source refers to software released. Some views on the ideas of selling exceptions to free software licenses, such as the gnu gpl are also available many people believe that the spirit of the gnu project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possiblejust enough to cover the cost. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain without selling the software. The gpl, lgpl, and mozilla licenses the licenses described in this chapter are very different from those described in chapter 2. As far as most people are concerned, the difference in meaning between free software and opensource software is negligible, and comes from a slight difference in approach or philosophy. You can, of course, charge for gpl licensed products. It may be confusing, but free software is referred to as free in terms of freedom and not in terms of price. Except for one special situation, the gnu general public license gnu gpl has no requirements about how much you can charge for distributing a copy of free software.
These different groups have had an opportunity to find common ground on important issues facing the free software community. Now, you can make money on the open source model, but it. Selling free software and open source is actually encouraged by people such as richard stallman and the free software foundation. The ethics of selling gpled software for the iphone slashdot. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the software. The interpreted program, to the interpreter, is just data. When i cosigned the letter objecting to oracles planned purchase of mysql 1 along with the rest of sun, some free software supporters were surprised that i approved of the practice of selling license exceptions which the mysql developers have used.
I dont think it is wise to give major decisions about a free software project to a large proprietary competitor, which might naturally prefer that the. Using code licenced under free software licences to build proprietary software is an easy way to quickly create what you want to build. It may be confusing, but free software is referred to as. These licenses impose substantial limitations on selection from understanding open source and free software licensing book. Richard stallman wrote about the practice of selling license exceptions to free software licenses as an example of ethically acceptable.
On selling exceptions to the gnu gpl free software. Its built with and comes with an awful lot of gpl d software. When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. The question is, why would someone buy it, if presumably, they can get it for free. Over the last 6 years weve seen many of our users succeed with selling software products, and learned a few things ourselves. If you create some software that uses another bit of software that uses gpl then you have to make that software availble for the public. Top 10 gnu gpl license questions answered whitesource.
People could, for instance, take your code and become experts at it. In the process, weve inadvertently stepped in it, bringing up a question of the gpl and free software ethics that im hoping the slashdot community can help us clear up, one way or the other. Since free software may be freely redistributed, it is generally available at little or no fee. The free software foundation is working to secure freedom for computer users by promoting the development and use of free as in freedom software and documentationparticularly the gnu operating systemand by campaigning against threats to computer user freedom like digital restrictions management drm and software patents. Gnu public license is all but free and you should never use it dev. Audacity is free software, developed by a group of volunteers and distributed under the gnu general public license gpl. The gpllgpl licenses mean free as in free speech, not free beer. Some views on the ideas of selling exceptions to free software licenses, such as the gnu gpl are also available. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu project.
Oct 30, 2017 stallman would also later develop the gnu general public license, a software license which guarantees the rights of endusers to run, view, and share source code freely. Selling free software gnu project free software foundation. Understanding open source and free software licensing bridges the gap between the open source vision and the practical implications of its legal underpinnings. Understanding open source and free software licenses kwork. However, there is an issue if youre not the original author and you are reusing source code that is licensed under gpl. Apr 17, 2018 when it comes to selling digital products, software is an entirely unique beast. Then sell us the licence rights that you no longer need and make your unexploited capital work for you. This functional specification should include the name and the purpose of each binary component executable, dll, and runtime loadable module in the system. Understanding open source and free software licensing.
Nov 02, 2016 once again, a common misconception that surrounds the gpl is the definition of free. Several bigname computer manufacturers have even started selling linux laptops directly to the public. If that commercial application is what youre selling, then youre giving a copy of that software in exchange for money. Feb 23, 2006 hundreds of new sites are trading on web users ignorance by selling inadequate or unnecessary technical support for free software. Can you take an open source software, modify it and sell. It consists of the gnu gpl version 2, with one additional section that affero added with fsf approval. Programs like audacity are also called open source software, because their source code is available. The differences between free and opensource software. We, the free software foundation, use the gnu general public license for most of our software.
Commercial theme and plugin companies, who fully license their programs under the gpl, are not selling the software. This is true for licenses with or without copyleft. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a series of widely used free software. This does not actually preclude selling the software, but, there are all sorts of. Gpl and lgpl open source licensing restrictions closed ask question asked 10 years, 9 months ago. The gnu general public license gpl is the archetype for free software licenses. Redistribution for free or for profit is specifically allowed, as long as the license is included and the source code is made available. As richard stallman explains it, free software means free as in free speech, not free as in free beer.
1093 1573 755 1110 958 444 53 905 833 810 1109 168 1411 1372 1457 212 1189 1003 1284 291 1161 244 481 1382 1360 717 493 626 282 99 58 1227 1513 204 1082 1533 983 1040 1125 876 920 212 860 327 1004 926 607 285 387