GPL license for community download?

[dezzio@ysoft.com]

Hi,

When following the links to the S2dmServer community download, I come to a distinctly non-GPL license agreement that is mandatory for the download. Is this a Web site glitch, or what? On the other hand, the source download is straightforward.

Thanks,

David Ezzio

[adam.fitzgerald]

Hi David,

Thanks for the question. We published a license FAQ a couple of months ago but I'll try to explain more here.

As you identified, the license for the source download is GPL. The license for the community download is a SpringSource free-to-use license. The community download is exactly what you will get if you download the source and run the build. We provided the community download version as a convenience so that people aren't forced to do the build themselves. The differently licensed (EPL/GPL) constituent components of dm Server mean that this is the best way to distribute the server. The source is still open, and the server (either from source or community) is still free to use in development or production. The enterprise version of dm Server is for those people that want to redistribute the product or want to use the advanced products for management or development that support the server.

As a disclaimer, I am not a lawyer so you shouldn't really consider my comments as legal advice.

Adam FitzGerald
SpringSource

[Sam Brannen]

Hi David,

No, this is not a Web site glitch.

If you want GPL binaries, you have to download the GPL source code and build the dm Server yourself. All pre-built binaries are non-GPL.

Regards,

Sam

[dezzio@ysoft.com]

Hi Adam and Sam,

Thanks for your illuminating replies.

The source built flawlessly when I followed the one page of instructions in the readme.txt. Usually, if there is any possibility of a problem, I find it and all its cousins. So, my kudos for a good job in making the build easy.

Thanks again,

David Ezzio

[adreghiciu]

Hi David,

No, this is not a Web site glitch.

If you want GPL binaries, you have to download the GPL source code and build the dm Server yourself. All pre-built binaries are non-GPL.

Regards,

Sam

So, just to be sure I ask:

If I download the binary file from SpringSource (e.g. 1.0.1 RELEASE) I'm:
1. not allowed to upload this file on a public server and make it available for public download
2. but if I download the GPL sources and build it my self I'm able to upload the artifact resulted from the build on a public server and make it available for public download

Thanx,
Alin Dreghiciu

[adam.fitzgerald]

Alin, I'll preface this comment by a short disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this post does not constitute legal advice by me or by SpringSource. You should contact your own lawyer for advice specific to your interests. With that out of the way, I recommend you read the dm Server Licensing FAQ for the details but I'll try to answer your question as best I can.

By publicly posting a version of dm Server for others to download, you are redistributing dm Server.

Re: 1. You are correct, the terms of the free-to-use license do not permit you to redistribute this version.

Re: 2. If you build the dm Server from source, you are not permitted to redistribute the resulting binaries due to conflicts between two different open source licenses (EPL & GPL). The FAQ has more details about this.

If you do want to redistribute dm Server then you can contact SpringSource to secure a commercial license that will permit redistribution as part of your product offering.

SpringSource dm Server's source is open and the server is free to use by you personally or your organization. The redistribution of the server is governed by the licenses associated with different server versions. I hope this clears things up.

Adam FitzGerald
SpringSource

[adreghiciu]

Thanx Adam for your information.

Actually what I wanted was to include Spring dm Server in the list of supported platforms by Pax Runner (http://wiki.ops4j.org//x/A4A6). For having a smooth experience, users should as much as possible, not be bother with downloading Spring dm Server by themselves. That's the only reason why I asked about redistribution. If there would be an url to downloading Spring dm Server without an manual "accept" process I would not need to "re-distribute" it. So, is there such an url? Or is there any other option?

[jaro]

It is a pitty that you are not allowed to distribute binary SpringSource sm Server even as part of some product. This is a serious limitation, and without having right to distribute it as part of some product we cannot use it. SpringSource dm Server is thus restricted for companies willing to pay for enterprise license or that want to use it for internal applications.

We cannot simply tell customers to unpack our package, go to SpringSource xx url, install the server and so on.

I was considering using SpringSource dm server in my next project, but with those license restrictions I'm going to stick to bare equinox.

[adam.fitzgerald]

@jaro: Your statement is completely incorrect. SpringSource dm Server is allowed to be distributed in a binary version. My previous post states clearly that

If you do want to redistribute dm Server then you can contact SpringSource to secure a commercial license that will permit redistribution as part of your product offering.

SpringSource dm Server is not restricted for companies willing to pay for an enterprise license or that want to use it for internal applications. Those are precisely the use cases we encourage you to talk to SpringSource about. If you have more concerns about the license, please read the FAQ.

Adam FitzGerald
SpringSource

[adam.fitzgerald]

@adreghiciu (#7): After looking at your web site, I can see what you have done with some other OSGi runtimes and what you are looking for from a user experience perspective. I don't see a software license for your technology listed on your site so again I have to tell you that you should speak to your own legal advisor when it comes to packaging your software with code from 3rd parties and then redistributing it.

In the case of dm Server, you can always point to the download URL: http://www.springsource.com/download/dmserver

Your users will have to manually "accept" or choose a version to download (a minimum of 1 click or a maximum of 4 clicks). This is not a very onerous task for application developers. I have downloaded, built and installed thousands of systems myself during my years working with open source software so I am sure that the portion of your user base that is interested in dm Server won't find it too difficult, or may have downloaded dm Server already.

Adam FitzGerald
SpringSource