GPL 3 in JavaScript frameworks

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alex.barylski
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GPL 3 in JavaScript frameworks

Post by alex.barylski »

What kind of restrictions does GPL v3 imply when using a JavaScript framework?

Obviously, using a front end framework would not mean, you have to disclose the backend code that generates the HTML or additional javascript to interact with the framework. Seeing as the JS code you would implement on top of the framework would already be exposed anyway, what exactly are these frameworks hoping to achieve commercially by using a license like GPL v3???

I plan on supporting this framework by buying a license when complete, which allows me to use the framework as I see fit, but still I am curious as to what they can require of you by using OSS software under GPL v3?

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Alex
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Weirdan
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Re: GPL 3 in JavaScript frameworks

Post by Weirdan »

GPL is obviously not suited for client side of web applications.
PCSpectra wrote:Obviously, using a front end framework would not mean, you have to disclose the backend code that generates the HTML or additional javascript to interact with the framework.
I think it's anything but obvious. Generally I'd say that if client-side code is not usable without server side code, and is only usable with one particular domain (and this is almost always the case), they form a single program. Any program that uses GPL library should be released under GPL, in its entirety.

My opinion is that you may use it as you see fit unless you're distributing it, in which case you must distribute the entire program under GPL. Thus it's unusable for client-side of public-facing proprietary projects (neither is LGPL, because of its additional permissions are quite restrictive and those restrictions are almost impossible to satisfy using a javascript library).
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