License question: can I take software under the GNU GPL license, modify it to fit my needs and offer access to use it as part of a hosted service? Say I take a GNU GPL licensed discussion board software, modify it and then charge people $5 to access my site where they discuss things. Is that ok? (It looks like it is to me, but I just wanted to check…)
July 1st, 2004 at 9:50 pm
Yes you can; this is something Jeff Dillon noticed at Sun, and I blogged about (http://www.holygoat.co.uk/blog/entry/2004-06-21-1).
His point was that Google do it; they use GPL software, customise it, and provide a service without providing the code. The reasoning is that they’re not providing an application (i.e. a binary), so they don’t need to give away the changes.
The GPL missed that out. Benefit!
July 2nd, 2004 at 12:23 am
As far as I know (I am not a lawyer, nor do I know a lot about GNU/GPL) all derrivative works based on GNU/GPL code has to be released under GNU/GPL.
Meaning that yes you can charge people to access your board since you’re not making them pay for the software. You are charging money for the service of accessing the board.
Your modified code for the board has to be GNU/GPL though. As far as I know. I am not a lawyer.
July 2nd, 2004 at 12:45 am
Yup, as the others stated, but I also think that according to the GPL the code in question (meaning your changes) are now GPL’ed as well and must be accessible for others to download. It is this “access” thing which people have the most disputes with, and is part of the GPL for fairness sake.
July 2nd, 2004 at 10:55 am
Re Alexander’s comment: As far as I’m aware (it’s a while since I read the GPL), the changed code must only be available if the application is distributed. If I fix a GPL script to run on my system, or edit a variable in one, then I don’t have to make my changes available.
If Peter sold the compiled application, he would have to make the source available (even if it’s only on the CD he sent out).
If, instead, he allowed access to the BB, but didn’t sell the finished app (or any part thereof), he wouldn’t have to make the source available.