Openfire, plugins and client license

Openfire Openfire Support
1

Hi,

Is it allowed to include openfire in a commercial product

or will my customers have to download the openfire source code from the igniterealtime website?

Can I sell a product that include openfire, custom plugins and a custom ajax client?

Can I license my plugins and ajax client with a commercial license?

Thanks

2

bump

3

Can I sell a product that include openfire, custom plugins and a custom ajax client?
Openfire is under GPL licence, so everyone may sell it. BUT, you need to mention explicitly that Openfire is under GPL, you need to supply the GPL licence text and make the source code available to all your customers (not to everyone). If you don’t change anything in Openfire itself, it should be sufficent to direct your customers to igniterealtime.org

There is somewhere a passage in GPL that disallows to link GPL source with source that is not under this license. This applies for example, when you link proprietary kernel modules (e.g. an graphics driver) into the linux kernel. Howevery, this appliance is controversial, because on the other side it’s allowed to use proprietary applications on linux. It’s possible that it is not allowed to use non-GPL plugins with Openfire. (Jive is allowed to do this with the Enterprise-Plugin, because they hold the copyright for Openfire!)

**However, im not a ****jurist, to be sure you should ask one. **Wikipedia might help here, too.

4

As CoolCat mentions, if you sell GPL software, you still need to include the GPL license and access to the source code to your customers - that may include the derivatives such as plugins, etc. though you would still be the copyright holder depending on how much modification you did.

Here is some excerpts from the GPL FAQ and a document on selling GPL software:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#

Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money?
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)

Can I release a modified version of a GPL-covered program in binary form only?
No. The whole point of the GPL is that all modified versions must be free software—which means, in particular, that the source code of the modified version is available to the users.

The FAQ provides examples of distribution, selling, etc.

This document also talks about selling: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

But probably a good idea to talk to a business lawyer and/or the GNU/FSF groups for more details on how to proceed if you chose to sell GPL software just to make sure.

5

If I do not sell it but give it to my customers for free,do I need include the GPL license and access to the source code to my customers?

6

FYI, Openfire is now under the Apache 2 license (no longer GPL). You might want to read this License and Distribution FAQ for more information.

Regards,

– Gato