Gnu lesser general public license version 3 open source. The purpose of the spdx license list is to enable easy and efficient identification of such licenses and exceptions in an spdx document, in source files or elsewhere. Open source stack exchange is a question and answer site for people organizing, marketing or licensing open source development projects. The open source initiative certified the boost software license 1.
What you should know about open source software licenses. Compare the best free open source libraries software at sourceforge. If they have a licensing question, projects are asked to submit questions to the legal affairs committee jira space. Releasing opensource software including apache2 and lgpl libraries. Difference between freeware and open source software different types of open source licenses. This document gives more information on what those licenses. The qt open source licensing is ideal for use cases such as open source projects with open source distribution, studentacademic purposes, hobby projects, internal research projects without external distribution, or other projects where all lgpl obligations can be met. Open sourcesoftware in proprietaren produkten ipit stuttgart. The following steps are required in order to be able to take advantage of the reduced requirements. It is based on code from apache openoffice made available under the apache license 2. Comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Most of these opinions were formed in discussions on the debianlegal mailing list in response to questions from potential package maintainers or licensors. The gpl family of licenses is unique among open source licenses in how past, current, and future versions of the license may apply to the software program. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a freesoftware license published by the.
The lgpl license explicitly allows such usages of librariespackages released under that license. 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. When using an lgpl librarypackage like pyside2, your obligations are. See the gnu library general public license for more details. Tldrlegal software licenses explained in plain english. I would like to open source my software library under the lgpl license. Over the summer of 2005, the osi decided to limit license proliferation and simplify the selection of licenses. We recently had a discussion about whether to recommend mit, apache, or gpl to one of our nonprofit clients for their open source. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the debian project or the fedora project. Lgpl uosopensourcesoftwareentwicklungoss14 wiki github. Free, secure and fast libraries software downloads from the largest open source applications and software directory.
You should have received a copy of the gnu lesser general public license along with this library. This page presents the opinion of some debianlegal contributors on how certain licenses follow the debian free software guidelines dfsg. 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. Php 4, php 5 and php 7 are distributed under the php license v3. We generally recommend the latest version of the lgpl. Mit license expat explained in plain english tldrlegal. The free software foundation may publish revised andor new versions of the gnu lesser general public license. This detailed guide gives you an effective open source licenses comparison. When selecting an open source license for your project, you contribute to free and open source software development by using qt under any of the following licenses. Lgpl allows you to use and distribute the open source software with your application without releasing the source code for your application. Motif released as open source software under lgpl v2. Licenses that are commonly associated with projects that contain publicly available code. Open source trends license obligations, open source license obligations comments off on common open source license obligations since there are several hundred thousand free, widely used, and well maintained open source packages on the internet, it makes perfect sense to leverage open source whenever possible.
Gnu general public license, version 3 spdx short identifier. What you need to know about gnu lgpl open source licensing by dr. Home random nearby log in settings about wikipedia disclaimers wikipedia. Release your source code under a license that is compatible with the gpl or lgpl, or. This policy provides licensing guidance to apache software foundation projects.
Top 10 microsoft public license mspl questions answered. The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to none unlicense. The gnu lesser general public license lgpl is a free software license published by the free software foundation fsf. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. Google needs to comply with open source licenses for all software that we distribute externally. There are three versions of the license commonly known as the lgpl. In all cases, contributors retain full rights to use their original contributions for any other purpose outside of apache while providing the asf and its projects the right to distribute and. Libreoffice is made available subject to the terms of the mozilla public license v2. The lgpl license allows an application that references the binaries to remain closedsource.
The lgpl is a copyleft licence like the gpl, but with a more subtle effect. Gpl requires you to release the source code of your application if you choose to use and distribute the gpl licensed open source software. This is a comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Can i use an lgpllicenced library in my commercial app. Lookup popular software licenses summarized ataglance. Which of the following best describes your situation. In a similar fashion id like to use them for my open source hardware projects gpl for schematic and pcbs, lgpl for schematic symbols and pcb modules. Use of the source code is subject to the terms and conditions of the gnu general public license, version 2 gpl and lesser general public license, version 2. The lgpl license is for the source code, not the trademark. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. Asf 3rd party license policy apache software foundation. The android open source project aosp uses a few open source initiative approved open source licenses for our software. 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.
The corresponding application code for a combined work means the object code andor source code for the application, including any data and utility. Differences between gpl and lgpl when using licensed software. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files the software, to deal in the software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, andor sell copies of the software, and to permit. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. License compatibility is a legal framework that allows for pieces of software with different software licenses to be distributed together. We recently had a discussion about whether to recommend mit, apache, or gpl to one of our nonprofit clients for their open source project. An open source license protects contributors and users. A major difference between the set of permissive and copyleft free software licenses is that when the software is being redistributed either modified or unmodified, permissive licenses do not force the redistributor to open the modified source code. A lesser general public license lgpl is a license for open source software that allows for provisions for including elements of free software in either free or proprietary software. Software licensed with any gnu license can be used and modified everywhere. These laws also applies to the driver license contract. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. The gnu lesser general public license is a free software license. Gpl and lgpl open source licensing restrictions stack.
Use the lgpl ed libraries in your code without modifying the libraries, and without linking or. Some modules we make are using more permissive licenses, though, for example, the blender cycles rendering engine is available as apache 2. If you have licensed software youve written under gpl version 2, and you are the original licensor of that software, you may. The qt open source licensing is ideal for use cases such as open source projects with open source distribution, studentacademic purposes, hobby projects, internal research projects. We license our product under the lesser gnu public license lgpl v3. The mariadb server is available under the terms of the gnu general public license, version 2 the gnu project mantains an official page with information about the gnu gpl 2 license, including a faq and various translations. If you are releasing your software with source code under the mit license you should have no trouble including the other packages with it as long as you comply with the various notice requirements in the licenses. The license was originally written by richard stallman, former head of the free software foundation fsf, for the gnu project, and grants the recipients of a computer. But im not sure if im allowed to use that license, as my library uses another library which is currently closed. Gnu library general public license, version 2 spdx short identifier. Copyleft licenses enforce the publication of the source code under the copyleft license. Gpl, lgpl, apache, bsd, the great thing about open source code is the large amount of high quality code that is available and many embedded projects use foss code as it really speeds up development time. Mit license expat 831217 code license managed by kevin.
This license is a set of additional permissions added to version 3 of the gnu general public license. We, the free software foundation, use the gnu general public license for most of our. Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. Gnu general public license, version 2 spdx short identifier. Of course, nothing will prevent you from making your contributions available under any open source licensing. Spdx license list software package data exchange spdx.
With open source licenses explained here, it should help you choose the right open source license for your project. Jun 21, 2016 this is a guest post from exygys long time counsel joseph morris. 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. If you do make enhancements, keep in mind that bigbluebutton is the product of many dedicated people who believe its possible to write a highquality open source web conferencing system. The php license is a bsdstyle license which does not have the copyleft restrictions associated with gpl. If you have licensed software youve written under gpl version 2, and you are the original licensor of that software. Opensourcelizenzen rechtskonform einsetzen devinsider. Eine ungefahre vorstellung davon, was unter software zu verstehen ist, hat. These licenses help us achieve our goal of providing reliable and longlived software products through collaborative open source software development. By not fully understanding this unique license feature, open source software developers may inadvertently create ambiguity.
Jeffrey also serves as adjunct professor of law at the university of north carolina. If you want to use or distribute code licensed under the mpl 2. You should have received a copy of the gnu library general public license along with this library. This is typically straightforward, because a lot of software is distributed under a license that weve already vetted.
Yes, you can distribute your software without making the source code public and without giving recipients the right to make changes to your software. You need not provide source code to programs which link to the library. Businesses and savvy developers wont touch a project without this protection. 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. The qt company supports the free software concept by providing the qt open source edition, which is licensed under the gnu lesser general public license lgpl version 3. You can use this edition of qt to create and distribute software with licenses that are compatible with this free software license. This is an open source license, certified by the open source initiative. Gnu lesser general public license for more details. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a widelyused free software license that guarantees end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the software. The open source hardware wikpedia page mentions that.
This article may help 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. Mozilla is the custodian of the mozilla public license mpl, an open source free software license. Licenses libreoffice free office suite fun project. It identifies the acceptable licenses for inclusion of thirdparty open source components in apache software foundation products. To make it free software, you need to release it under a free software license. The free software foundation may publish revised andor new versions of the gnu lesser general public license from time to time. See the gnu lesser general public license for more details. The project is open source, so i want others to make use of it as well, but i dont want them to create derivative works with closed source licenses. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see list of free content licenses. 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. What you need to know about gnu lgpl open source licensing. What is the difference between gpl, agpl and lgpl licenses.
The spdx license list is a list of commonly found licenses and exceptions used in free and open source and other collaborative software or documentation. While the project strives to adhere to the preferred license, there are. This is a guest post from exygys long time counsel joseph morris. Common open source license obligations source auditor. Rather than creating a new license, some open source hardware projects simply use existing, free and open source software licenses. This license, commonly known as the gpl, has two versions that are actively and widely used in many open source communities. Mar 28, 2014 gnu lesser general public license lgpl kurzbeschreibung einer opensource lizenz. Also, theres nothing preventing you from selling an open source. So, youre working on that cool new project for a while and youre ready now to make the critical move from closed source to open source. Revised versions of the gnu lesser general public license. Fluendo includes ffmpeg libraries licensed under lgpl. Use the license preferred by the community youre contributing to or depending on.
412 1461 864 178 603 3 304 1250 87 1280 863 489 161 877 1380 1137 933 807 1036 437 1506 299 1240 1049 739 1330 1476 723 184 1246 944 1033 875 1044 517 1488 514 615 929