Chief among these is the requirement that a license not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Cd manufacturers can also distribute the nonfree software they get from other sources on the. Can i then clone their repository, and sell the improved software without sharing any profits. It can be used with readilyavailable lowcost external rf hardware to create software defined. As interest in sdr grows unabated and we continue to see ever more affordable hardware platforms, i thought it would be timely to roundup just a few of the things that it can.
If i can get the code of, modify and redistribute a gpllicensed software for free, doesnt it mean that its pointless trying to sell such software. 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. This license lets the user of the software use a program in many of the same ways as if it were public domain. 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. The trade in used licences is based on a very simple principle. Explaining and understanding the gnu general public license gpl. The gpl is a license granted to any person who has a copy of the program. Someone forks my repository and makes some great improvements to my software. If i can get the code of, modify and redistribute a gpllicensed.
A short guide to open source licenses smashing magazine. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain. Gnu general public license simple english wikipedia, the. Sposting this here as some of you are experts in gnu licensing, and linuxquestions seems to be more for technical help.
The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a series of widely used free software. The gnu gpl allows users to change and share all versions of a program. 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. But in some cases, because an open source license might require them to release their source code when they sell software to others, some programmers find that charging users money for software services and support rather. Nov 06, 2015 this article was made in order to support the open source thinking, production and distribution by demonstrating some negative sides and setbacks about the gnu license as it is now and present solutions for those in order to eventually move on to a better and more free open source. 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. You can support our efforts by making a donation to the. Can i commerically use gpl licensed software on my server if i am only distributing the client software. With that said, dear techrepublic reader, the short answer to your first question is. Gnu is composed wholly of free software, most of which is licensed under the gnu projects own general public license.
This page is maintained by the free software foundations licensing and compliance lab. Jul 12, 2016 the particular license agreement will explain to the enduser how they can use the software. Gnu general public license jake lundberg pos355 12 april 20 terance carlso although there are many individuals, groups, and companies that try to sell software and other. 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. There are a lot of different reasons why you would want to add a license to your code. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license compatibility it is compatible because it can be re licensed. This doesnt mean that those actions are always, surely illegal. Jun 14, 2011 gpl code can be sold, but no proprietary software can be derived from it. The free software foundation and its sprout the gnu project are a core element of.
You can sell gpl code, but you must make sure that all of your own code or linked means everything on ios is licensed compatible with gpl. Regarding selling the software you can sell the original and modified. These licenses are so simple that no dedicated text is needed to expose the terms of the license. Short answer is yes, you can sell your application under any license you like. As the following article explains, my feelings about selling license exceptions are mixed. A federal appeals court said friday that software makers can use shrinkwrap and clickwrap licenses to forbid the transfer or resale of their wares, an apparent gutting of the socalled first. The original author is also allowed to release the software under as many licenses as they wish. The problem is that in the site there are a lot of fonts free for commercial use under gpl gnu license.
The gnu general public license gpl is a computer software copyleft license. They do not, however, give anybody the right to fool customers or give them misleading information. Short for general public license, the license that accompanies some open source software that details how the software and its accompany source code can be freely copied, distributed and modified. Where software licensing becomes confusing is in the different types of licenses and the rights attached to the various licenses. You can support our efforts by making a donation to the fsf. Gnu public license is all but free and you should never use it. The gnu free documentation license gnu fdl or simply gfdl is a copyleft license for open content such as software.
Nov 24, 2015 some examples of licenses that you can use for software. Clearly it is possible to develop powerful and complex software packages under the gnu gpl without selling exceptions, and we do this. Redhawk is licensed under a combination of the gnu lesser general public license lgpl, the eclipse public license epl, the apache v. Using a gnu licensed software to make new software to be sold. Is it possible to resell your software license to another party in the same way that you can sell a secondhand book, music cd or movie dvd. Most would not unless theres more than just software. Essentially, once a work is released under the gpl, it remains gpl and no further restrictions can be applied. It can be used with readilyavailable lowcost external rf hardware to create softwaredefined radios, or without hardware in a simulationlike environment. If you want to fork the project and make changes to it, you can. Yes, the gpl is completely compatible with the notion. Oct 31, 2016 the software vendors cannot be too dismissive.
However, today i found this program called minitube and it is sold even though it is licensed under gplv3. Rsal is similar in this sense to permissive open source licenses. Allowing an individual or group to use a piece of software. It is compatible because it can be relicensed under other licenses. Is the gnu license free enough to support the open source. If your software is licensed under the terms of the gpl, it is free. Nearly all applications are licensed rather than sold. You should have received a copy of the gnu general public license along with this program. Failure to adhere to software license agreement terms often incurs criminal charges related to licensed intellectual property ip and ed material. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a freesoftware license published by the. Top 10 gnu gpl license questions answered whitesource.
Free and open source licenses include free software with no monetary usage charge, but. Many proprietary or open source software houses sell the sw copy with a license to use it. Selling free software gnu project free software foundation. Guess what, you dont own that software you bought wired. To learn about specific microsoft server and client licensing scenarios, see an introduction to microsoft server and client licensing. This can include discriminating against their customers, refusing support or seeking higher prices from those using preowned software. Regarding selling the software you can sell the original and modified version of a software licensed under the gpl license.
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. But take in account that if one makes a purchase for a certain fee, gpl gives that person the freedom to release it to the public. Cd manufacturers can also distribute the nonfree software they get from other sources on the same cd. For this reason gpl gnu team create the font exception that allows you to use any other license in your documents or artwork where gpl gnu licensed font was used. Understanding the copyright license smashing magazine. Does the original author has a permission to sell his own software. A common business model involves licensing the software as opensource, and offering proprietary extensions built on top of that software. Gpl is provided through the free software foundation, a nonprofit corporation that works to provide free software for the gnu. All software must be legally licensed before it can be installed. Is it possible to re sell your software license to another party in the same way that you can sell a secondhand book, music cd or movie dvd. Are gnugpl font free for commercial use 1001 fonts forums. Software licensing is a complicated topic, but knowing a little about software licensing can help you make sense of all that fine print. Both licenses have the same copyleft scope, but materially differ in one important way. Under a gpl v3 license, can i take pieces of an open.
I know selling said software to other parties as my own is obviously against the rules, but what about simply using it in a commercial application and making commercial gain with its use. At idr solutions i have spent a lot of time contributing to the java pdf library and pdf to html5 converter code base and i thought it might be useful to look at ways you can license your software. The gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 is a copyleft license nearly identical to the gplv3. There are a variety of different types of software licenses. However be aware that if you or the company ever make changes to the software and want to distribute it, it must be distributed with full source code, on the same license terms as the original software. Free and open source licenses include free software. Sep 05, 2018 software licensing describes the legal rights pertaining to the authorized use of digital material. As i know, softwares licensed under the gnu gpl is totally free and not allowed for sale. See the gnu general public license for more details.
Difference between various opensource software licenses. Commercializing software released under an mit license is more challenging. The debian gnulinux faq chapter 14 redistributing debian gnu linux in a commercial product 14. The debian gnulinux faq redistributing debian gnulinux in. If a license does not permit users to make copies and sell them, it is a nonfree. The gpl grants and guarantees a wide range of rights to developers who work on opensource projects. Then sell us the licence rights that you no longer need and make your unexploited capital work for you.
It would fall under the definition of a work that uses the library. Can software licensed under gnu general public license v3. There isnt any transferring of ownership of the good to the user, which hasnt the warranty of a for life availability of the software, nor isnt entitled to sell, rent, give it to someone, copy or redistribute it on the web. We, the free software foundation, use the gnu general public license for most of our software. Means that all of your code is publicly available and you use nothing with incompatible licenses e. If you dont have a copy of the program, you are not entitled to the source code.
Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu. Some are based on the number machines on which the licensed program can run whereas others are based on the number of users that can use the program. Of course the software can break if the modified lib is broken. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what. The people to whom you sold copies of gpl software are just as free as you are to. Gnu free documentation license simple english wikipedia. However, note that commercial is not the same as proprietary.
Does all gnu software use the gnu gpl as its license. The gnu general public licence gpl is probably one of the most commonly used licenses for opensource projects. They couldnt do it, even if those were good things. The debian gnulinux faq redistributing debian gnulinux. It was initially created for use with software documentation, but can. Gqrx is a software defined radio receiver powered by gnu radio and the qt gui toolkit. You asked two questions, and they both have simple answers. May 12, 2015 if you sell a software under gnu gpl 3. Frequently answered questions open source initiative.
The gnu general public license gpl is a free, copyleft license used primarily for software. The question is, why would someone buy it, if presumably, they can get it for free. Can gpl licenced software be used in corporate environments. Code for a program licensed under it and include all or part of it in another program licensed under the gnu general public license gpl, berkeley software. Im interested in using some gnu licensed software to help my employer attract clients. Software licensing describes the legal rights pertaining to the authorized use of digital material. Much of the confusion has to do with the real meaning of the word distributed when it comes to software. Nov 01, 2017 the disadvantage is that anyone can take software licensed under mit, change the branding, and sell it as proprietary software. I mean, that is the whole reason i do open source in the first place. The gnu, or general public license, is a free software license that offers users freedom to operate, study, share, and modify the software. On selling exceptions to the gnu gpl free software.
Mention somewhere that your product uses that library, anywhere, in the about box, in the splash screen, in the manual. If you receive software under an open source license, you can always use that software for commercial purposes, but that doesnt always mean you can. The gnu general public license version 1 solved this problem by simply referring to the program. The software must not be incompatible with secondary licenses. Developers can omit it when licensing their software. Apr 12, 2018 and yes, you can charge someone for the software, however, you have to give them a copy of gnu gpl which would tell them that they could get the software free from elsewhere. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain without selling the software. It was made up by the free software foundation fsf for the gnu project. The disadvantage is that anyone can take software licensed under mit, change the branding, and sell it as proprietary software. Under a gpl v3 license, can i take pieces of an open source quora. Selling free software some views on the ideas of selling exceptions to free software licenses, such as the gnu gpl are also available.
The most widespread use of gpl is in reference to the gnu gpl, which is commonly abbreviated simply as gpl when it is understood that the term refers. Yes, you can sell your software provided you include the mit license as part of your product. You can charge nothing, a penny, a dollar, or a billion dollars. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license compatibility. The only kind of profit strategy that is incompatible with open source is monopolybased sales, also known as royalties. Nov 10, 2005 up to that point licences for gnu software had been written on an adhoc basis for each software release, and were often peppered with direct references to the software they licensed. There are several ways to protect, license and sell an excel workbook as a protected product with computer unique activation. Open source software programmers can charge money for the open source software they create or to which they contribute. 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. Do you have to pay for gnu gpl software that is for sale. Gnu is composed wholly of free software, most of which is licensed under the gnu projects own general public license gnu is a recursive acronym for gnu s not unix. Software as a service and gnu gpl licensing is not complex, the motto of the license is for disallowing the softwares to control the users and modify, distribute, develop, use the softwares with full freedom along with the other points written in the license. Software licensed with any gnu license can be used and even modified everywhere, including in a corporate environment, without any restrictions.
You can modify the software, integrate the variant into your application, and distribute and sell your application, as long as your application is not a database product as defined. If you distribute any derivative work, then your source code must be made available under the same license. Software can become incompatible with secondary licenses in one of two ways. Gpl and other foss licenses give everybody the right to sell software with the constraints above, for whatever price the market will bear. I sell the software, but i also keep it open source under the mit license.
Yes, the gpl license allows users to sell the original as well as the modified software. The saas loophole in gpl open source licenses whitesource. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu project. Making sense of software licensing articles and howtos. There are ways around this well defined boundaries such as processes and. Software developers can impose conditions that is, licenses on the reuse. Basically, it allows users to legally copy, distribute and modify software. The word lesser in the title shows that the lgpl does not guarantee the end. The mit license is a permissive free software license originating at the massachusetts institute of technology mit in the late 1980s. The shared roots of license and licentious synonym discussion of license. Gnu radio is a free software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. The following are four specific insights that are tied to selling and marketing open source software. Yes, the original author is not bound by the terms of the gpl.