SoftwareLicensing » History » Version 6
laforge, 03/06/2016 05:36 AM
1 | 1 | laforge | |
---|---|---|---|
2 | 4 | laforge | h1. Software Licensing |
3 | |||
4 | 6 | laforge | In general, each of the Osmocom projects contains a @COPYING@ file in the soure code, containing the detailed software license of the respective project. Please make sure to understand the license terms before using the software! |
5 | 1 | laforge | |
6 | 6 | laforge | h2. AGPLv3+: Most Osmocom Cellular infrastructure software, such as [[OpenBSC:]] |
7 | 1 | laforge | |
8 | 6 | laforge | The following notes apply to software described on this wiki, developed as part of the Osmocom project. Specifically, it applies to [[OpenBSC:]], [[OsmoNITB:]], [[OsmoSGSN:]], [[OsmoBTS:]], gb_proxy, ipaccess-config, bsc_nat, osmo-bsc_mgcp, ... |
9 | 4 | laforge | |
10 | For reasons of simplicity, we always call it _OpenBSC_ here. |
||
11 | |||
12 | 5 | laforge | *OpenBSC is copyrighted software like any other computer program. In order to use [[OpenBSC:]], you need a license from the copyright holders.* |
13 | 1 | laforge | |
14 | If you do not arrange for a different license with the copyright holders, the software ships with a default license: The "AGPLv3":http://fsf.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html (GNU Affero General Public License, Version 3). |
||
15 | |||
16 | 6 | laforge | h3. General idea behind the AGPLv3 Licensing |
17 | 1 | laforge | |
18 | 4 | laforge | The general idea behind our licensing model is as follows: You receive the full source code of the [[OpenBSC:]] software and can use it like you see fit, *but* we require you to release the source code of any modifications or derivative work you create. |
19 | 5 | laforge | |
20 | 1 | laforge | With AGPL, it does not matter whether you ever distribute the [[OpenBSC:]] software. As soon as you provide a GSM network using [[OpenBSC:]], all users are entitled to receive a copy of the license text and the _complete corresponding source code_ of the very version you are using to run the GSM network with. |
21 | 4 | laforge | |
22 | 6 | laforge | h2. GPLv2+: libosmocore, [[OsmoPCU:]] |
23 | 4 | laforge | |
24 | 6 | laforge | [[libosmocore:]] (and its siblings @libosmogsm@, @libosmovty@, @libosmoctrl@, etc.) as well as [[OsmoPCU:]] are licensed under "GNU GPL Version 2, or any later version". This means at the time of this writing, you can license them under either "GPLv2":http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html or "GPLv3":http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html. |
25 | 2 | laforge | |
26 | 5 | laforge | As both GPLv2 and GPLv3 are _strong copyleft_ licenses, it means that creating a derivative work of the library and an executable program will require that executable program to be under the same GPL version. |
27 | 3 | laforge | |
28 | 5 | laforge | If you use the libraries together with the Osmocom executable programs (see above), then libosmocore will be licensed under GPLv3, which is compatible with the AGPLv3 of the executable programs. |
29 | 4 | laforge | |
30 | |||
31 | h2. Questions |
||
32 | 1 | laforge | |
33 | 5 | laforge | If you have any questions regarding the licenses used in the Osmocom project, please contact the project authors *before* you create any kind of product or a derivative work. |