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I am trying to figure this out since a few days now and find no way to do this:
I have a software I want to release under the AGPL so the base system "is open-source", but my software has a plugin interface, where external plugins can be loaded at runtime (so no separation which the GPL would allow).
I now what to make it possible to others to develop non-GPL plugins, as I do not like "this part" of the GPL.
Is there a ways to somehow allow this as an exception to the GPL or in any other way?
Or is there a license which has the same copyleft for the code itself but permits linked software to be under a different license?
I already though of releasing the plugin interface under a different license (like LGPL), but to quote a well know CEO: "The GPL is like cancer". This is not possible, as the plugin interface must be GPL, because it is also linked into the (A)GPL'ed main project.
Could I solve this with some kind of "weird" dual-licensing of the plugin interface?
P.S.: My software is developed using .net 4.5 and C# if that matters anyhow.
You may wish to release the API libraries/assemblies as LGPL, which allows the user to link those in without "tainting" their software, thus the plugins are taint-free, but still requires enhancements to the API libraries to be released.
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We will develop one commercial software for one company, and this software will be sold to customers of the company. This software contains font-end JS/HTML based codes and back-end C++ codes. We want to use ExtJS4.2 to develop font-end module.
We will not modify ExtJS code itself and just use it for the library, but I don't know if extending ExtJS type/class will be treated as "modifying ExtJS".
If we do not want to make back-end codes open source, which license do we need?
If we have to use Commercial License, Could we first use GPLv3 to try the ExtJS for learning and training privately in company, and use Commercial license when we decide to release software and begin to charge?
If we have to use Commercial License, which kind of Commercial License do we need to buy? We have one team containing several people to develop font-end module.
"Could we first use GPLv3 to try the ExtJS for learning and training privately in company, and use Commercial license when we decide to release software and begin to charge?"
Not according to Sencha's own commercial license. See this section of http://www.sencha.com/legal/sencha-sdk-software-license-agreement
"The Open Source version of the Software (“GPL Version”) is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License versions 3.0 (“GPL”) and not under this Agreement. If You, or another third party, has, at any time, developed all (or any portions of) the Application(s) using the GPL Version, You may not combine such development work with the Software and must license such Application(s) (or any portions derived there from) under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3, a copy of which is located at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html."
I think all your questions are answered here.
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I'm thinking about the usage of ikvm.net. While ikvm.net has a license which can be used by commercial applications, openjdk will be developed under GPL.
My question is due to the fact that ikvm.net is delivering an openjdk .net assembly does this effect the application which is going to use ikvm.net?
The following is my personal opinion and may be wrong. I am not a lawyer.
The license of the OpenJDK is GPL+linking exception and not simple GPL. This means you can write commercial application that based on OpenJDK. The writing of commercial application is the cause for the linking exception.
IKVM has also not the problems of Android because the license is not more free like a Apache license. The OpenJDK part is continue under the GPL+linking exception.
The larger problems are the patents. The patents for Java can only used if the TCK passed. IKVM does not pass the TCK. I think never has test it.
But the most patents are invalid. Thanks to Google. The most patents are more related to the VM self and not to the API. Things like Garbage Collection and Reflection are not part or IKVM. This are features of the .NET Framework.
In some weeks we will know more. If Android has no patents problems then IKVM has also no patents problems.
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When I'm defining a license for my open software project, should I consider my project's dependencies and based on them define license for my project?
Can anybody give me an example of license infringement in terms of dependencies licenses and my project license?
When I'm defining a license for my open software project, should I consider my project's dependencies and based on them define license for my project?
Yes, you should learn about which usage terms your dependencies have, so you know what you can do with the code.
If you have multiple dependencies, you need to check whether you can use them alltogether and under which conditions.
This can influence your own licence choice as well, as most software licenses explicitly operate that way.
You could run into problems if, for example, you link against a GPL library but your license is not GPL compatible. Here is the FSF faq entry on the subject.
If a library is released under the GPL (not the LGPL), does that mean that any software which uses it has to be under the GPL or a GPL-compatible license?
Yes, because the software as it is actually run includes the library.
The same situation could arise if you combine any two incompatible licenses, depending on how they interact, but I think that will be the major pain point.
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i want to publish my software under a opensource license with the following conditions:
you are allowed to:
Share — to copy, distribute and
transmit the work
use a modified
version of the code in your
application
you are not allowed to:
publish modified versions of the code
use the code in anything commercial
is there a software license out there that fits my needs ?
Having a noncommercial clause is against the spirit of opensource. So no, there isn't. And if you do make one yourself then you should not be calling it opensource but instead call it a non-commercial license.
There are in fact code with the kind of licensing you are talking about and there are widely recognised by the opensource community as being non-opensource. MINIX (by Tanenbaum) is one of them. The code is freely available and public and anyone can see but have severe restrictions on re-publishing modifications. MINIX is widely considered to be a closed-source piece of code.
Lots of commercial, proprietay, closed-source embedded operating systems are actually distributed as code and have only copyright laws protecting them (instead of complex, byzantine DRM). Just the fact that people can see your source code does not make it open source.
One last example. Windows (including XP, Vista and Seven). Microsoft makes the source code Windows available to anyone who needs it for non-commercial, educational purposes provided you sign an NDA. Their source license sounds a lot like what you want. Check out the license here: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/licensing/basics/wrklicense.mspx. I doubt anyone would argue that Windows is opensource.
You can publish code under any licence you want but it will only be F/OSS, Open Source, if it complies with the OSI definition : http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd. Your conditions are incompatible in several ways.
Take note that almost all players in Open Software use OSI-compliant licences - you would be going completely against all current opinion and practice.
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What is the difference between the Affero General Public License and the GNU General Public License (GPL)?
Assume the following:
You are developing a server side application in GPL. Now this application serves HTML and not an executable which is directly executed on your machine. That means that another guy could take the GPL code, adapt it and does not necessarily need to publish it. Ie. he can create the identical service using your software without violating the GPL. (Although THEN he cannot publish the software itself i.e. selling)
Not so with the AGPL.
This hole in the GPL is often called "Application Service Provider" hole.
Search for "Why AGPL" or "AGPL vs. GPL" or just read this for some real projects who have problems with GPL. The MongoDB tries another interesing thing. They want that people do not fork the core DB (thatwhy AGPL) but the driver which has to be linked with the main program is apache 2.0 licensed so that the mongoDB could be used within commercial application.
Public web application that uses the AGPL are listed at wikipedia.
See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#AGPL
The GNU Affero General Public License is based on the GNU GPL, but has an additional term to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program. We recommend that people consider using the GNU AGPL for any software which will commonly be run over a network.