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License Issues

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 6:59 pm
by bhm8hwcm
I am hoping someone can help me out with licensing issues.

I am looking to create and online order managment system for my company using php, mysql and apache. If all goes well, down the road I may look to market this online system to others charging a monthly fee.

My question is, can I use open source code when developing this application? Specifically I may look to use Pear, Smarty, and other libraries out there. If I use this code, can I charge a fee? Also, do I have to make all of my code available for public consumption ( all code I wrote independent of the open source code I obtained)?

I have come across a few licensed out there, but am not quite sure of the differences:
GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU General Public License
BSD License

Any help is appreciated.

THanks

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 7:04 pm
by method_man
maby you should google those 3 licenses

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 8:07 pm
by Skara
I'm pretty sure if you use something under GNU what you use it in has to be GNU. Don't take my word on that, though.

Re: License Issues

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 9:11 pm
by Roja
bhm8hwcm wrote:I am hoping someone can help me out with licensing issues.

I am looking to create and online order managment system for my company using php, mysql and apache. If all goes well, down the road I may look to market this online system to others charging a monthly fee.
Which brings the first question:

Are you going to charge a fee for them to have a *hosted* solution, from your site, OR, are you going to charge a monthly fee for them to use the code?

(There is a legal difference between the two for some things)
bhm8hwcm wrote: My question is, can I use open source code when developing this application?
Yes, absolutely.
bhm8hwcm wrote: Specifically I may look to use Pear, Smarty, and other libraries out there.
Some. Pear is tricky, in that different modules are under different licenses, and you need to be aware of the potential conflicts and combinations. It depends what you intend to do with the code, and what you don't want the customer to be able to do.
bhm8hwcm wrote: If I use this code, can I charge a fee?
For all of the above, yes. However, in almost all opensource cases, you cannot charge a fee *exclusively* for that code. In other words, if you use opensource in your product, once you sell the product, you must clearly provide credit where it is due, and provide the sourcecode to the opensource elements you used.

(Some licenses, like the GPL, depending on use, require more)
bhm8hwcm wrote: Also, do I have to make all of my code available for public consumption ( all code I wrote independent of the open source code I obtained)?
Possibly. It depends on how you "sell" the product, how you "combine" the code, and more.

For the BSDL, you pretty much just have to give credit where credit is due. It's ideal, and the hope for most BSDL authors is that anyone and everyone will use their code if possible.

For the LGPL, there is an extra tricky step: You cannot modify the library. If you do, AND you distribute it, then you must offer it for free, and offer the sourcecode. (ie, follow the same rules as the original). If you don't modify the library, you just have to give credit where credit is due, and offer the sourcecode for it.

For the GPL, it gets even more tricky. You can modify the code, but if you combine it with your program (and the level of interaction is fairly loosely defined), then the overall product needs to be under the GPL (ie, opensource). You of course have to give credit where credit is due, and you can still charge a fee for the product (Redhat does so). However, almost all of the requirements of the GPL are triggered only by DISTRIBUTION. In other words, if I take GPL'd code, and use it to power a website (singular), I have not distributed the code. (This is called the "Web services loophole")

Entire forum threads have spawned from discussions around the exact meaning and intent in the GPL, so bear in mind that it isn't easily summarized. I'm happy to clarify what I understand of it (most of my code is licensed under the GPL, and I've successfully defended my copyright numerous times).

You'll need to be far more specific about how you'd like to sell your product, what level of interaction there will be with your product, and so on..

Of course, I am not a lawyer, and your best guide is to read each license - since you are accepting THEIR terms, not my understanding of them. Your mileage may vary, do not taunt happy fun ball.

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:02 am
by timvw
A websearch will deliver you a load of sites explaining the differences...

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html