Qgis is an official project of the open source geospatial foundation osgeo. The question is specific to using these tools to develop commercial software the source or the binaries of the gpl licensed tool does not become part of the commercial software in anyway i do not want to modify the gpl licensed tool. You can license your commercial application under the gplv3 license as. A similar clause exists, for example, in gplv2 paragraph 5 and lgplv2 paragraph 9. Can gpl licenced software be used in corporate environments. If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporate commercial environment. Can i use the gplv3 license for my commercial application. The software that i am refering to is qgis which provides this description. I just wanted to expose the other way of looking at it. 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.
Well take a look at what exactly a free software license is, and how it differs from the typical proprietary software license. The agpl makes straightforward commercial sense we use it for our open source product, flint. The software included in this product contains ed software that is licensed under the gpl. Some features, such as support for some external libraries libx264 and libx265 for example and various filters, are covered by the gnu general public license gpl version 2 or later see commercial x264 license exception below. Point of view and does not reflect any official definition of freedom. Can i use a software tool licensed with gpl in commercial. Creative commons licenses are several licenses released on december 16, 2002 by creative commons, a u. How to use gnu licenses for your own software gnu project free. Ffmpeg is licensed under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl version 2. If i use gpl software in my application, but dont modify or distribute it, do i. You should have received a copy of the gnu general public license along with this program. Software licensed with any gnu license can be used and even. When distributing derived works, the source code of the work must be made available under the same license. Echelon corporation echelon grants you a nonexclusive license to use, modify, and redistribute the example software and documentation provided by echelon that expressly refers to this agreement example software according to the following terms.
Agpl ghostscript is provided under the gnu affero general public license agpl, as well as under an artifex commercial license. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu. The gpl guarantees everyone with the software identical permissions. Gnu public license is all but free and you should never use it. Why should i use the gnu gpl rather than other free software licenses. Top 10 gnu gpl license questions answered whitesource. Richard stallman created the gpl to protect the gnu software from being made. For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee. You can support our efforts by making a donation to the fsf. This really has nothing to do with the gnu gplit applies no matter which free software license you use to release the program.
Consider for example the libre software lammps, which uses gnu general public license. The gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 is a copyleft license nearly identical to the gplv3. Gplcompatible software is software whose conditions of propagation, modification and use would permit combination with gcc in accord with the license of gcc. Then the software performs some calculations based on the instructions in the. It keeps your code bona fide open source, so people who want to use and extend it noncommercially can do so without worrying about you at all. You can distribute your application using a gpl library commercially, but you must also provide the source code.
Software licensed under the gnu general public license is free software, and all software that builds on gpllicensed components is also free and must also be licensed under the gpl. The license terms apply to anyone who distributes gpld software, regardless of whether they are the original distributor. Open source licenses grant permission for anybody to use, modify, and share licensed software for any purpose, subject to conditions preserving the provenance and openness of the software. How to license your program under version 3 of the gpl. Pages in category software using the gpl license the following 150 pages are in this category, out of 150 total. Both licenses have the same copyleft scope, but materially differ in one important way.
Does a commercial enterprise need to buy a commercial. In contrast, free software licenses are used for software that the user can copy, change, and redistribute. 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. Is there any way to use exclusively open source software to prevent licensing issues. Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. The gpl the gnu general public license the most popular copyleft licence, sometimes gets a. For example, if a program consists only of own original. Even the great gpllicensed softwares like mysql actually sell a different licensed version.
If you want an example of including gpld software as part of a commercial offering, look at os x. It is therefore often thought that gpllicensed software is unsuitable for proprietary projects. Describes the ability to use the software for commercial purposes. You may copy, distribute and modify the software as long as you track changesdates of in source files and keep modifications under gpl. These are great choices for noncommercial projects, as they reduce user resistance toward project adoption. See the gnu general public license for more details. The agpl makes straightforward commercial sense we use it.
This has implications for proprietary andor commercial software. In some senses, thats very permissive because the aggregate permissiveness is maximized. For example, the fsf holds the s on many pieces of the gnu. We, the free software foundation, use the gnu general public license for most of our software. For example, type the following command to find a copy of that file in your linux system for various items. Commercial software was once considered to be proprietary software, but now a number of free and opensource software applications are licensed or sold to end users.
For example if it was for internal use only in your company, then you have no obligation to. In practice, this could have dire consequences on the consumers of gpllicensed software. The agplv3s section states an additional condition not present in gplv2 or gplv3. A copy of that license is included in this document on page x. 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. If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or simply gpl is a widely used free software license, originally written by. What is the best open source license for commercialization. Gplv3 gives making available to the public as an example of propagation. The galah group general public license is a deriavitive of the gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 the gggpl is not a free software license, nor is it an open source license quick overview. Qgis is a user friendly open source geographic information system gis licensed under the gnu general public license.
It is a specific implementation of his copyleft concept. Choosing the best open source license is one of the most important decisions you can make for a new project. For example if it was for internal use only in your company, then you have no. There are multiple variants of the gnu gpl, each with different requirements. An overview of the gpl opensource licence and important issues for developers who.
Say, for example, that a small software company determines that part of a widely distributed and used gpllicensed program, such as the gnulinux kernel, infringes on a software patent that it holds. Can i use gpllicensed software in a commercial program. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain. Gpl is the acronym for gnus general public license, and its one of the most.
Gpl the gnu general public license the gpl is a copyleft software licence 1 published by the usbased free software foundation. The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to none unlicense. Gnu general public license, version 2 spdx short identifier. Software under the gpl may be run for all purposes, including. Most developers default to popular permissive licenses like mit, bsd or apache. 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. For example, if a developer writes and distributes program a that. Richard stallman created the gpl to protect the gnu software from being made proprietary. Gpl is the acronym for gnus general public license, and its one of the most popular open source licenses. Understanding opensource and free software licensing medium. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu project. For example, the software under permissive license may be incorporated into the other proprietary software without disclosing the source code, and this newly. Can i use gpl software in a commercial application software. No commercial software, no code that you keep for yourself, no way to use it.
The gnu general public licence is an excellent example of this. This general public license applies to most of the free software foundations software and to. While this may not be surprising, one has a hard time convincing a lawyer to be permissive, when the software owners are not clear about it. By contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free softwareto make sure the software is free for all its users. Preamble the gnu general public license is a free, copyleft license for. Most surveys indicate that the vast majority of open source projects use the mit license, the apache license, and the gpl or their variants. If you have some code you are thinking of releasing under an open source license, and you want a quick overview of the broadstrokes differences between these licenses, you have come to the right place. This page is maintained by the free software foundations licensing and compliance lab. Gnu public license is all but free and you should never. Can i link a gpl program with a proprietary system library. Whether youre a software provider, it manager, or attorney advising clients on open source software, you must understand the general public license gpl.
The text of the gnu general public license gpl is in a file named copying in various directories in your linux system. Take the example of vendor v, who develops a software platform from gpld sources for use in embedded devices. 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. For example if it was for internal use only in your company, then you have no obligation to do anything. Can i use gpl software in a com mercial application. For example, the faq can i use r for commercial purposes. Gnu general public license v3 gpl3 explained in plain english.
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