Marco fioretti answers a techrepublic members questions about charging fees for software thats made available under the gnu gpl. List of free and opensource software packages wikipedia. The first version of the affero general public license agplv1, was published by affero, inc. Some of the mostinstalled open source software is gpllicensed, such as linux, wordpress, and wikipedias underlying software, mediawiki. This is a list of free and opensource software packages, computer software licensed under free software licenses and opensource licenses. What is gnu general public license gnu gpl or simply gpl. You may obtain the complete corresponding source code from us for a period of three years after our last shipment of this product, which will be no earlier than 20110801, by sending a money order or.
Relationships between the gpl licences and other software are carefully explained in the gpl faq. To me it smacks of open source evangelists trying to trick the world into going open source instead of persuading the world of its. Qgis is a user friendly open source geographic information system gis licensed under the gnu general public license. One example is mozillas trilicense, which states that the software is released under the mpl, but the user can also choose gpl or lgpl instead of mpl i think this is because the mpl license is incompatible with the gpl license however, i came across projects released under both the gpl license and the mit. The gpl is very restrictive in the sense it forces any derivative work to be released opensource under the same terms. 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. Frequently answered questions open source initiative. The software freedom law center provides practical advice for developers about including permissively licensed source. Can gpl licenced software be used in corporate environments. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a free software license published by the free software foundation fsf. This is a brief explanation of how to place a program under the gnu general public license, gnu lesser general public license, or gnu affero general public license.
Further imagine that as a result of this oversight, all users of. What agpl does on top of gpl is the redefinition of user. The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the lgpl into their own even proprietary software without being required by the terms of a strong copyleft license to release the source code of their own. 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. Top 10 gnu gpl license questions answered whitesource. Furthermore, specifically with gpl versions, the fsf recommends that programs say version 3 of the gpl or any later version, and in that case you can effectively even relicense other peoples code under a new version. When versata software sued ameriprise financial services for breaching its software license, it unwittingly unearthed a gpl violation of its own and touched off another lawsuit that could prove to be a leading case on free and open source software licensing. This post takes a look at the legal issues raised by both cases and what they mean for foss producers and users. Top 10 best open source softwares that rocks world wide. I want to distribute the result under the gnu gpl version 2.
It allows users to study, run, share, and modify the software. A copy of that license is included in this document on page x. The affero general public license affero gpl and informally affero license is a free software license. Under the gnu gpl, you would not need to distribute your source code if you made modifications to a project released under the gpl, but provided it as a service. This is especially a concern for libraries which are building blocks for larger software. There are lots of projects released under more than one license. Gnu general public license version 2 open source initiative. If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporatecommercial environment. Lawsuit threatens to break new ground on the gpl and. Distribution of programs released under the gnu licenses. Gnu general public license, version 3 spdx short identifier. Add a copying file with a copy of the gnu gpl or gnu agpl. The software included in this product contains ed software that is licensed under the gpl.
The gnu general public license, often shortened to gnu gpl or simply gpl, lists terms and conditions for copying, modifying and distributing free software. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu project. A practical guide to gpl compliance software freedom law. The question of usage is a little more complicated. Marco fioretti answers a techrepublic members questions about charging fees for software thats made available under the gnu gpl license version 2 or 3. All programs, whether they are released under the gpl or lgpl, should include the text. The purpose of this license is to ensure that a work can be freely distributed and modified by anybody, and that no proprietary works can be derived from the original work. The open source code modification, redistribution of opensource software reserved under holder according to law. This license was originally written by richard stallman from the free software foundati. The gpl is the free software foundations general public licence. If i use gpl software in my application, but dont modify or distribute it, do i have to release my application under the gpl. I want to modify and merge some software that is available under the two clause bsd license into a project that is available under the gnu gpl version 2. If you have licensed software youve written under gpl version 2, and you are the original licensor of that software, you may wish to relicense your software. Nothing forbids you to write software that runs under linux regardless of the licence of your software.
For the gnu free documentation license, we have a separate page. The gnu general public license is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works. By contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to make sure the software is free for all its. We have a javascript codebase that we want to opensource in an incremental fashion. Richard stallman created the gpl to protect the gnu software from being. You may copy, distribute and modify the software as long as you track changesdates of in source files and keep modifications under gpl. Wikipedias content is mostly under the creative commons bysa license, which has similar sharealike features to the gpl.
The gpl is considered the standard open source software licence, and many non software works are published under the gpl as well. For further information, see our list of frequently asked questions about our licenses. The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. Media in category free software under the gpl the following 17 files are in this category, out of 17 total. Anki the desktop version is under gnu agpl, the android version is under gplv3. Gpl general public license is a free license software that is popularly used across the world. Permission is granted to copy, distribute andor modify this document under the terms of the gnu free documentation license, version 1. However you must make available the sources to the software. Distribution and derivative works under the gnu general public license theresa gue abstract imagine that microsoft discovers that its profitable program, microsoft word, contains lines of code borrowed from a free and open source software program. For example, if you write some software and release it under the gnu general public license a widelyused copyleft license, and then someone else modifies that software and distributes their modified version, the modified version must be licensed under the gnu gpl too including any new code written specifically to go into the modified. As curiousdannii said you can always release your own code under another license, even if its incompatible with a license you used earlier.
This is an incomplete list of software that are licensed under the gnu affero general public license, in alphabetical order akvo platform data platform for sustainable development goals and international development tracking. We normally use the gnu general public license gnu gpl, specifying version 3 or any later version, but occasionally we use other free software licenses. Gnu general public license gpl, is a good example of it which allows free distribution under the same license for its free usage. For more information about the philosophical background for opensource. The following 152 pages are in this category, out of 152. If your project contains a component that contains a component that contains a component that is under the gpl phew. Is this allowed without getting permission from the owner of the to the bsded code. Gplv2 is compatible with gplv3 if the program allows you to choose any later version of the gpl, which is the case for most software released under this license. Software that fits the free software definition may be more appropriately called free software. How to use gnu licenses for your own software gnu project free.
By contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a. The software that i am refering to is qgis which provides this description. The free software foundation considers the apache license, version 2. The gpl was created by richard stallman in order to protect gnu software from being made proprietary. Can i use gpl software in a commercial application software. Wikimedia commons has media related to free software under the gpl. The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works.
Ampache web based audiovideo streaming application. Pages in category software using the gpl license the following 150 pages are in this category, out of 150 total. Stet was the first software system known to be released under the gnu agpl, on november 21, 2007, and is the only known program to be used mainly for the production of its own license flask developer armin ronacher noted in 20 that the gnu agpl is a terrible success, especially among the startup community as a vehicle for dual commercial licensing, and. The second version agplv2 was published in november 2007, as a transitional license to allow an. If i use a piece of software that has been obtained under the gnu gpl, am i allowed to modify the.
That is, we want to release the full code to some of our core. The choice of licence comes down to personal preference, and both approaches can have good or bad. The gpl allows you to modify, copy, and distribute software licensed under it, provided you also license the derived work under the gpl, and make available the source code. Most gpl version 2 software is actually licensed as gpl version 2 or any later version, or. We use only licenses that are compatible with the gnu gpl for gnu software. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu. The gnu affero general public license agpl is not that different from the gnu general public license, but with considerations for software asaservice. You are under the reciprocity obligation, which means you are. To make it free software, you need to release it under a free software license. For gpl programs running on your server, you are the user, for agpl, the real users of the app are. You can distribute your application using a gpl library commercially, but you must also provide the source code. This diagram is not comprehensive see our licenses page for a more complete list of licenses compatible with gplv2 and gplv3, but plainly illustrates that gplv3 is compatible with. Apache 2 software can therefore be included in gplv3 projects, because the gplv3 license accepts our software.