A practical guide to gpl compliance software freedom law center. Its generally appropriate for libraries and projects that want to allow linking from nongpl and. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu project. Its true that a mere license does not need to be supported by consideration.
The first version of the general public license, which is one of the. We use only licenses that are compatible with the gnu gpl for gnu software. It means more than just access to the source code it. As far as i know, mit license is better if someone plans to make a commercial product out of an.
Obs studio obs studios, also known as open broadcaster software, is a free and open source software program for. The software included in this product contains ed software that is licensed under the gpl. This general public license applies to most of the free software foundations software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. You asked two questions, and they both have simple answers. Some modules we make are using more permissive licenses, though, for example, the blender cycles rendering engine is available as apache 2. As far as i know, mit license is better if someone plans to make a commercial product out of an open source project.
These are examples of the license accompanying code, and you can find other examples at the gpl has nothing to do with whether you charge for the software or distribute it for free. Gnu gpl license terms open source softwares stack overflow. Java open chess java open chess is a project written in java in netbeans ide. This site is not directly affiliated with free software foundation.
The faq for the current version of the gpl is here. Permissive licenses generally only concern themselves with the licensing of the original program. The boilerplate can be found at the end of the gnu gplv3 license. The free software foundation considers the apache license, version 2. Free software means software that respects users freedom and community. To make it free software, you need to release it under a free software license. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu. Lgpl allows you to use and distribute the open source software with your application without releasing the source code for your application. Git is released under the gnu general public license version 2. The original affero gpl was designed to ensure that all users of a web application would be able to receive its source.
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. What legal remedies exist for breach of gpl software. The software freedom law center provides practical advice for developers about including permissively licensed source. The gpl is still the worlds most popular opensource license but its declining in use. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies. Gpl and lgpl open source licensing restrictions stack. If you have licensed software youve written under gpl version 2, and you are the original licensor of that. The union of two sets of restrictions would apply to the combined work, thus. 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.
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 under gpl version 3. Announcements about gnu chess and most other gnu software are made on infognu. 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. I want to use some open source softwares in my website for commercial use. We, the free software foundation, use the gnu general public license for most of our software. Sadly, this case reignited the decadesold license contract debate due to some misinterpretations under which the court ruled the gpl to be a.
Can i omit the preamble of the gpl, or the instructions for how to use it on. What are the key differences between the gnu general. The osi list of licenses includes a reference to the nonprofit open software license that probably fits the bill for what you want but be cautious as other open source licenses, including the gpl may not be compatible with it. The gnu general public license gpl and the gnu lesser general public. Three additional directories have been created for. The cygwin binaries are here only for archive purposes and wont be updated. The gpl the gnu general public license the most popular copyleft licence, sometimes gets a hostile press, often for reasons that dont reflect its real and positive effects.
After you find the file, you can change to that directory and type more copying to read the gpl. By contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your. The history of open source is long and full of legal questions. 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. Originally known as the gnu library general public license, it was drafted by the free software foundation fsf to provide a weaker or lesser form of copyleft for use in certain specific circumstances. One of the reasons for that is because person provides consideration the legal expressions is consideration moves from the promisee. Us district court rules gnu gpl is an enforceable contract.
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. Law stack exchange is a question and answer site for legal professionals, students, and others with experience or interest in law. Gnu chess binaries for windows compiled with mingw on msys2. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl, which is somewhere in between, allowing reuse of a library module in most types of code so long as the library itself remains open source under the lgpl. All trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned herein are the property of. Gnu library or lesser general public license version 2. The inference rules of natural deduction are the basis for the game. A copy of that license is included in this document on page x. Richard stallman created the gpl to protect the gnu software from being made proprietary.
Revised versions of the gnu lesser general public license. The game source code is licensed under the gpl and the media is licensed under the cc bysa license. The gnu general public license, often shortened to gnu gpl or simply gpl, lists terms and conditions for copying, modifying and distributing free software. Qgis is a user friendly open source geographic information system gis licensed under the gnu general public license. Any license that prohibits selling is by definition not open source. Developers who wish to address this might want to use the gnu affero gpl for programs designed for network server use. The gpl was created by richard stallman in order to protect gnu software from being made proprietary. If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporatecommercial environment. The fall of gpl and the rise of permissive opensource licenses. Approximately 70% of the projects in the software repository sourceforge use the gpl v2. Gnu general public license wikipedia, a enciclopedia livre. Gnu chess is a product developed by free software foundation.
In other words, your application must also be licensed under the gpl. Return to the article open source software licences explained, go on to read about the lgpl, or go back to read about bsdstyle licences. May 14, 2017 us district court rules gnu gpl is an enforceable contract. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. Also in the description of the affero gpl they specifically state that the affero gpl is there to require release in an open source license. The gnu general public license gpl, which is much less permissive, allowing reuse only in open source software that is also under the gpl. Html, plain text, odf, docbook v4 or v5, texinfo, latex, markdown, and rtf. Nethack general public license 1 nokia open source license 2 nonprofit open software license 3. Yes, the gpl is completely compatible with the notion. The git project chose to use gplv2 to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to make sure the software is free for all its users. Gnu general public license version 3 open source initiative. Gnu general public license this license, commonly known as the gpl, has two versions that are actively and widely used in many open source communities.
Nov 10, 2005 the gnu general public license v2 gpl v2 for short is the most commonly used open source licence. Gpl requires you to release the source code of your application if you choose to use and distribute the gpl licensed open source software with your application. Gnu health gnumed gnu lilypond gnu go gnu chess gnash. This implies that the nonaffero gpl allows to use gpled code on webserver also for. You can support our efforts by making a donation to the fsf. We explain the difference in why open source misses the point of free software. You can distribute your application using a gpl library commercially, but you must also provide the source code. Well, this assumes that you are either selfemployed, or not employed under a contract such that your company owns your code. There are no frontcover texts, no backcover texts, and no invariant sections.
More open source licenses may be found at the open source initiative. A practical guide to gpl compliance software freedom law. To learn more about the free software foundations other licenses, please see our licenses page. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a series of widely used free software. Source code was placed under a single src in gnu chess v5, as usual. 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. This essay argues that developers of freelibre open source software floss, aka ossfs should use an existing widelyused license compatible with the general public license gpl, particularly the gpl, lgpl, mitx, or bsdnew licenses.
The quick chess application can be used by two users to play the chess game on the computer, plus you can also play with computer, or just be a spectator, and let the computer play the game in computer vs computer mode. Does the gpl require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public. The gnu general public license is often called the gnu gpl for short. But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the gpl requires you to make the modified source code available to the programs users, under the gpl. Under a gpl v3 license, can i take pieces of an open. The gnu general public license is available in these formats. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. This page contains answers to commonly asked questions about the gnu general public license gpl, version 2.
Jun 09, 2016 the gnu general public license gnu gpl or simply gpl is a widely used open source software license, originally written by richard stallman for the gnu project. Cytopia is a free, open source city building game with a big focus on mods. Last april, a federal court in california handed down a decision in artifex software, inc. Wikipedia gnu general public license from wikipedia frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses fr es it from gnu official web site a practical guide to gpl compliance from software freedom law center. 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. I have a friends computer science students creating software for me to analyze games as part of a class, and id like to know what the best open source engine or free version of an engine out there. Thus, the gpl gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. The open software license osl is a software license created by lawrence rosen. Aug 26, 2008 early gpl enforcement efforts began soon after the gpl was written by richard stallman in 1989, and consisted of informal community efforts, often in public usenet discussions. Apache 2 software can therefore be included in gplv3 projects, because the gplv3. The key innovation of the gpl license was the requirement that source code be provided along with any binary code distributed, ensuring that the. The gnu gpl allows users to change and share all versions of a program.
The free software foundation recommends taking the additional step of adding a boilerplate notice to the top of each file. This license refers to version 3 of the gnu general public license. Is it legal to do that under the gpl license terms. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a freesoftware license published by the free software foundation fsf. Insert the word lesser before general in all three places in the boilerplate notice to make sure that you refer to the gnu lgplv3 and not the gnu gplv3. How to use gnu licenses for your own software gnu project. Open source software licences explained sound software. Gnu general public license, version 2 spdx short identifier. This license, commonly known as the gpl, has two versions that are actively and widely used in many open source communities. The open source initiative osi has certified it as an open source license, but the debian project judged version 1. The free software foundation may publish revised andor new versions of the gnu lesser general public license from time to time. 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. The gnu general public license gpl is a free, copyleft license used primarily for software. I think that there probably is consideration to be found in an open source licence.
The offer must be open to everyone who has a copy of the binary that it accompanies. What is the difference between gpl and lgpl in terms of. The software that i am refering to is qgis which provides this description. Copyleft licenses such as the gpl require that derivative works carry the same protections as the original project, and that the source code be provided for derivatives created. Thus its not essential to open up the source code even its bundled with a gpl software. This document attempts to draw together the main features of the gnu general public license v2 into a friendly and comprehensible digest and, in addition, to. Part of the article open source software licences explained what is the gpl. The gpl license grants the users irrevocable rights to use, modify and redistribute software even commercially under the condition that software or its derivatives retain the gpl license and that the source code is included or.
Both filezilla and filezilla server as downloadable from are free open source software distributed under the terms and conditions of the gnu general public license gpl version 2 or at your option any later version. In the event you distribute code or a binary that includes code with one of these license, your obligations differ. It is a specific implementation of his copyleft concept. Like, it states that if i create something out of the code, ill have to open source that as well, and doesnt mention the specifics. A quick guide to gplv3 gnu project free software foundation. Gnu general public license, version 3 spdx short identifier. Copyright also means like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as. Gpl is the acronym for gnu s general public license, and its one of the most popular open source licenses. Jul 27, 2011 gary is correct there are no differences with respect to ownership. The documentation shipped with the library and made available over the web, excluding the pages generated from source comments, are ed by the free software foundation, and placed under the gnu free documentation license version 1. The ability to sell the software is a crucial part of the open source definition.
Best open source or free chess engine chess forums. In the case of the mit license, you are obligated to provide attribution with your code or binary e. The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to none unlicense. The games source code and media are licensed under the gnu general public license. The gnu affero gpl version 3 has also been brought into the fold. Gpl is provided through the free software foundation, a nonprofit corporation that works to provide free software for the gnu project. The actual definition open source was based on the debian free software guidelines, written and adapted in the us primarily by bruce perens in 19981999 and now used by the open source initiative osi 1 to determine whether or not a software license can be considered open source. This page is maintained by the free software foundations licensing and compliance lab.
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. In gplv3, you can use it for commercial uses, in gplv2, you are right, it has restrictions. Some other licenses are the gnu lesser general public license lgpl and the bsd license. Gpl and lgpl open source licensing restrictions stack overflow. What is gnu general public license gnu gpl or simply gpl. The gnu general public license or gpl is sometimes termed a copyleft licence, in that it relies on the legal mechanisms of to ensure that the software it covers remains available for everyone to copy and modify the main requirement it imposes can be roughly described as. Create a project open source software business software top downloaded projects.
Please note that gplv2 is, by itself, not compatible with gplv3. The open source license used most often, as measured by the use of licenses on freshmeat, is the gnu general public license gpl. Jun 15, 2012 the gpl the gnu general public license the most popular copyleft licence, sometimes gets a hostile press, often for reasons that dont reflect its real and positive effects. Why should i use the gnu gpl rather than other free software licenses. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. Id like the software to be created for fritz i dont believe there is a free version, because thats.