Gplv3 software as a service

Like companies that exist to break the GPL's terms and get sued, but give their customers indemnity in their use of such software. Novell Or devices which run free software, but refuse to be modified.

Or running free software on a server, and charging for access to it. Amazon with mongodb combated by AGPL. Though, I personally don't think SaSS should be used in most cases. What you are describing seems to me like you want to avoid licensing problems by making the "product" a single unit which can't be modified. It does not. If there's GPL software in there, you need to abide by the license.

Same as you would if you used any other copywritten material in there. As MadHatter so expertly explained, the issue of whether or not linking to a GPL library constitutes a derivative work has not been settled.

For your purposes, you'll have to assume that it does just to be safe , and plan your product accordingly. A common way to deal with situations like this is to split your software up into pieces. One of those pieces will be the GPL library and some non-proprietary parts of your code, just enough to make that piece operate on its own. The proprietary parts of your program would communicate with the "GPL-tainted" parts of your program through some sort of user-space interface.

You still have obligations under the GPL to distribute source code, but only for the the code that's included in the module containing the GPL code. Your question leaves out a lot of details, but it sounds like you may already have a situation like this. I don't know what exactly you mean by that, but a web interface is generally considered to be a clean breaking point between programs.

Since the web interface is usable all by itself, external software that happens to use that interface isn't automatically considered part of the same program. If you're simply trying to make that web interface viewable somewhere else, then you should focus on writing a stand-alone program that uses that GPL library and works on any arbitrary web interface.

That would be an independent program, would inherit the GPL, and would require you to provide the source code. All of your proprietary magic is on the other side of that web interface, however, so the GPL wouldn't apply there. You'd have two completely independent programs that are usable on their own, and your device just so happens to use them both together.

The devil's in the details, of course. Considering there's a risk of having to publish what might be considered trade secrets, you really should run everything past a legal professional who knows the details of your product and its architecture.

I just wanted to point out that you shouldn't needlessly distribute DVDs when the vast majority of people will never look at the source, and a large portion don't even have a DVD drive.

If you didn't modify the library you do not have to license your code under GPLv3. The source code must be public whenever it is distributed. You are distributing the GPLv3 code , so you need to make it public--be it by a web link or including the source. A derivative work is one that includes aspects of the original.

Libraries are software packages utilized by calling their public interfaces. Using a library for its intended purpose without modification is not derivation. That would be like saying a song is a derivative of the instruments.

Here is an article by Lawrence Rosen about what derivative software is. The meaning of derivative work will not be broadened to include software created by linking to library programs that were designed and intended to be used as library programs.

When a company releases a scientific subroutine library, or a library of objects, for example, people who merely use the library, unmodified, perhaps without even looking at the source code, are not thereby creating derivative works of the library. He even goes on to paraphrase the idea that "linking a library creates a derivative work" is as if "merely touching [ It uses a third part library to access the thermal sensor and gather data [ Essentially, you are distributing 3 separate objects: the Linux OS, the third-party libraries and your software.

Thus, you need to provide the source code for the OS and the GPLv3 library, and maybe the "third party" library it its license requires it solely because you're distributing these. The remaining question is about the status of your app. If you can avoid using GPL libraries in your app and stick to e. LGPL libs, you will be able to forego disclosing your app's sources.

Linux has no requirement to apply GPL license to software that runs on in, even if it links to essential system libs like libc , due to linking exceptions. Here 's the relevant exception license if you use gcc , other compilers have similar provisions. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

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We defend the rights of all software users. There are also other ways to contact the FSF. The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow. Something like DNS that doesn't really support delivering files? I'm not sure it's always a horrible thing to dictate technology to accomplish your policy, but it's definitely less than ideal, and 7 b 4 was a shining example of it.

Even worse, the clause had the potential to make GPLv3 compatible with onerous licenses, with obnoxious terms akin to the BSD advertising clause. So we've come up with a better solution. We're going to write a new license, version 2 of the Affero GPL , that solves this problem in a more general way and doesn't dictate technology. This provides everyone with much the same benefits that 7 b 4 did: people who want their source to be available over a network will use the Affero GPL—not much different than using an optional requirement—and will still be able to build on top of all the GPLed code that's out there.

And then this approach has additional advantages over 7 b 4: it'll be less of a technology hack, and people who want to avoid code with this requirement can just blacklist the AGPL, and not have to worry about a list of additional requirements. We're going to draft AGPLv2 just as publicly as our other licenses. Initial language is circulating among the first stakeholders, and once we have something ready to publish, we will.