From version 5, we have changed the license from lgpl to polyform noncommercial 1. Most gpl version 2 software is actually licensed as gpl version 2 or any later version, or. You may copy, distribute and modify the software provided that you state modifications and license them under lgpl 2. My understanding is that with lgpl, can i link and use an lgpl library for commercial use, as long as i dont copy code. For commercial licensees, all modules are available under a single, commercial qt license. How can i legally use lgpl javascript in a commercial web. The usual disclaimers apply, this is not legal advice. This is an attempt to clarify the most important issues. The first version of the affero general public license agplv1, was published by affero, inc. Qt contains some code that is not provided under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl or the qt commercial license, but rather under specific licenses from the original authors the qt company gratefully acknowledges these and other contributions to qt. You can sell your commercial software under its own licence and not ship it with the gpl addons. 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 components. I also often find it confused with gpl, which is something you should never, ever even consider to use in any closed source software that you intend to distribute. Feb 25, 2006 if this is what you want to do, use the gnu lesser general public license instead of this license.
You may copy, distribute and modify the software provided that modifications are described and licensed for free under lgpl. We recommend that programs that use qt also acknowledge these contributions, and quote these license statements in an appendix to the. My software, teem, is released under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl, for a variety of reasons. Free software license provider mit license, apache license 2019 apache license the apache software foundation asf is a nonprofit corporation to support apache software projects. Both licenses have the same intention, namely to protect the freedom of users to use and modify the software licensed under lgpl. The commercial product includes services such as support, maintenance, professional services, integration, or the like. Lgplv3 is the current version of the gnu lesser general public license. When using an lgpl librarypackage like pyside2, your obligations are to allow and make it possible that users of your software replace the librarypackage that actually gets used when running the software. Commercial licensing of products such as qt for industrial embedded product development david pashley, direct insight. This means that you still cannot use these modules in closedsource software. Aug 28, 2014 gnu librarylesser general public license lgpl the above copyleft license didnt work for many software libraries because no one who was releasing any type of software commercially or under an alternative license would use them, which was the whole purpose of releasing the libraries.
I worked for trolltech, and then later nokia who bought t. Jun 25, 2019 the difference between the gpl and the lgpl is that with the lgpl, the entire work doesnt have to have the same license. Mention of lgplmit source code in a commercial software. Legal issues are a constant source of questions and confusion.
Dec 06, 2004 clarification of answer by maniacga on 12 dec 2004 20. Gnu general public license, version 3 spdx short identifier. The lgpl and gpl licenses differ with one major exception. Among the two gpl is the basis of open source software for programmers. If they have a licensing question, projects are asked to submit questions to the legal affairs committee jira space. A lesser general public license lgpl is a license for opensource software that allows for provisions for including elements of free software in either free or proprietary software. While you may download our software product under the lgpl free of charge, we also offer our software under a commercial license. The qt company gratefully acknowledges these and other contributions to qt.
I often get questions about the lgpl license used for kentor. Clarification of answer by maniacga on 12 dec 2004 20. The commercial qt license gives you the full rights to create and distribute software on your own terms without any open source license obligations. The difference between the gpl and the lgpl is that with the lgpl, the entire work doesnt have to have the same license. Proprietary software sormec marine and offshore cranes. Lesser general public license is sometimes referred to as library gpl or gnu libraries, and some associate it with the idea of. See how to choose a license for your own work for general recommendations about choosing a license for your work. The only big restriction is that you must keep the library open source, including any modifications you make to it, and allow your users to obtain the source, licence and information for the library. The gnu project has two principal licenses to use for libraries. In combination with the polyform noncommercial license we sell licenses for customers who use epplus in a commercial business. Since you have access to the codes through open source software, you are permitted to make changes, improve it, and create your own twist. Difference between gpl and lgpl difference between. Lgpl software your api would be considered a derivative work and the new library would then be subject to the same compliance terms as the original software. Derivatives works including modifications or anything statically linked to the library can only be redistributed under lgpl, but applications.
So this post is an effort to explain and answer common questions about the. The second version agplv2 was published in november 2007, as a transitional license to allow an upgrade path from. Why the gpl is incompatible with commercial software filed on feb 25. Qt contains some code that is not provided under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl or the qt commercial license, but rather under specific licenses from the original authors. Most importantly, this license best implements to the notion of share and share alike which is fundamental to academic research. So this post is an effort to explain and answer common questions about the lgpl. If opensourc e software is licensed under the lgpl, other software developers may use it for their software development projects even if their projects are closedsource or otherwise proprietary or commercial in nature. It should also be possible to exchange that dynamically linked library for an independently compiled build. Asfs objective is to provide legal protection to volunteers working on the apache project and to protect the apache brand name from being used by other organization. Its impressive, for instance, to look at sonys web site where they fulfill their gpl obligation, and see the dozens of tv models and many other products that contain linux. The writers of the license maintain it is free software, but the free software foundation says it is not free because it infringes the socalled zero freedom of the gpl, that is, the freedom to use the software for any purpose. Software licensed with any gnu license can be used and modified everywhere, without any restrictions in private and even in corporate environments.
The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a freesoftware license published by the free software foundation fsf. Sep 03, 2016 it is a software license published by the free software foundation. In contrast to lgpl, gpl requires that you provide the code for all changes made to the software. The lesser general public license lgpl is a more permissive license weak copyleft. Among other things, were often asking joe about software licensing issues. I will be using pyside2 without any modification to it for designing the gui. If the library as you received it specifies that a certain numbered version of the gnu lesser general public license or any later version applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that published version or of any later version published by the free software foundation. This page is maintained by the free software foundations licensing and compliance lab. To understand the difference between gpl and lgpl you have to understand the basic idea of open source software.
If the library as you received it specifies that a certain numbered version of the gnu lesser general public license or any later version applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that published version or of any later version published by. You can support our efforts by making a donation to the fsf. With the commercial license you also have access to the official qt support and close strategic relationship with the qt. You can use and distribute lgpl libraries on your website and use them in combination with commercial code. 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. This is a little inconvenient for the customer and you, but it keeps things separate.
Gpl, also known as copyleft, grants permission to reuse or modify the source code to make derivative works, but if you distribute your program to others, it requires you to license your derivative work under the gpl too. From lgpl to polyform noncommercial from version 5, we have changed the license from lgpl to polyform noncommercial 1. Jun 21, 2016 this is a guest post from exygy s long time counsel joseph morris. Aug 31, 2018 differences between gpl and lgpl when using licensed software. By 1990, it was becoming apparent that a less restrictive license would be strategically useful for the c library and for software libraries that essentially did the job of existing proprietary ones. I suspect that because lgpl allows making the source code of the library that you linked to available via a download, it must be ok to use an lgpl licensed lib in your app for microsofts marketplace.
I am making a commercial application for my own company. Sluc is a software license published in spain in december 2006 to allow all but military use. Users choosing to use cgal under the freeofcharge open source license have to comply to its terms, otherwise they have to buy a commercial license. We recently had a discussion about whether to recommend mit, apache, or gpl to one of our nonprofit clients for their open source project. I want to use the greybox plugin for jquery in my commercial.
Can i use an lgpllicenced library in my commercial app. So a futre consumer product licensing opensource software under gplv3 could not be protected in this way against. It identifies the acceptable licenses for inclusion of thirdparty open source components in apache software foundation products. I want to use pyside2 in it which comes under the lgpl license. Asf 3rd party license policy apache software foundation. 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. Gpl is basically the legal terminology that makes open source software what it is.
Why you shouldnt use the lesser gpl for your next library. A lesser general public license is used to license free software so that it can be incorporated into both free software and proprietary software, and is often referred to as the weaker sibling of gpl. What is foss licensesapache, bsd, gpl, lgpl explained techcode. With the commercial license you also have access to the official qt support and close strategic relationship with the qt company to make sure your development goals are met.
In combination with the polyform noncommercial license we sell licenses for customers who. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a free software license published by the free software foundation fsf. Gpl requires you to release the modified source code only if you release the modified program. As such, the lgpl is considered a more commercial friendly license than the gpl, since lgpl libraries can be freely utilized by commercial software. Lgpl is used to license free software so that it can be incorporated into both free andproprietarysoftware. Gnu librarylesser general public license lgpl the above copyleft license didnt work for many software libraries because no one who was releasing any type of software commercially or under an alternative license would use them, which was the whole purpose of releasing the libraries. Frequently asked questions about the gnu licenses gnu.
Ffmpeg is licensed under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl version 2. My question is that if i will be able to sell the software packed along with pyside2 without making my proprietary code public. The lgpl license explicitly allows such usages of librariespackages released under that license. Qt documentation is available under commercial licenses from the qt company, and under the terms of the gnu free documentation license fdl version 1. The vast majority of questions i get about combining gpl and proprietary software concern embedded systems, since linux is a component of so many consumer products these days. They cant say software is halfopen for commercial developers because its not ture. Our commercial products include support and services. So a futre consumer product licensing opensource software under gplv3 could not be protected in this way against device vulnerability. However you must license qt under the lgpl and discharge your responsibilities under that license. What is foss licensesapache, bsd, gpl, lgpl explained. This is a guest post from exygys long time counsel joseph morris. Version 3 of the lgpl is the latest version, written in 2007. See the wikipedia article on the lgpl for more information.
But one important thing to take care of is that the gnu lgpl covered library is dynamically linked, not statically mixed with the main application. We recommend that programs that use qt also acknowledge these contributions, and. Moving to the issue of source publication, that is specifically, deliberately removed under lgpl lesser gpl, providing certain conditions are met. 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. You may copy, distribute and modify the software provided that you state modifications and license them under lgpl2.
205 866 1142 190 991 257 1217 559 1327 1193 87 642 1426 339 544 1271 1170 1378 492 929 1174 1240 585 107 467 1364 40 146 937