Open source license manager software#
Open source license manager code#

As has been mentioned, the word 'free' was asource of confusion in that you were free to give software away, but softwarewasn’t necessarily without cost. When Richard Stallman started the GNU Project, he also established the FreeSoftware Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports thefree software movement. A summary of other open sourcelicenses in use will be helpful-but first, a little about how they haveevolved. In reality, however, all licensing issues aren’t eliminated andthat has to do with the fact that the GNU General Public License isn’t theonly commonly accepted open source license.

In addition to the termination of complex licensing negotiationsand software asset management efforts, there are no nagging concerns aboutcompliance. Simplified license management is almost a given with the elimination ofsoftware fees. Learn More Buy Simplified License Management We hope that others will also join in this endeavor to reassure the open source community that good faith efforts to fix noncompliance will be embraced.Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server

Open source license manager code#

The cure permissions offer additional comfort that users of our code have reasonable assurances of quiet use of that code, even if there is a temporary license noncompliance by a third party redistributing our code, due to misunderstanding or otherwise. Therefore, said Fontana, 'We are extending the GPLv3 termination policy to users of our GPLv2/LGPLv2.1 code because we consider it the right thing to do. Over time, these often incorporate contributions from copyright holders other than Red Hat. This reflects not only our corporate traditions of developer empowerment, but also our view that engineers typically have the greatest competence to determine the appropriate license strategy for growing user and contributor communities around their projects.'īoth historically and today, many Red Hat engineers choose GPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 for their projects. 'License selection is a form of legal decision making, but for as long as I've been at Red Hat, engineers have been given significant discretion to choose licenses for the projects they maintain, within certain boundaries (for example, expectations to pick from a small set of widely-used, de facto standard licenses). Why is Red Hat bothering with this when it's already incorporated the cure commitment language with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)? Red Hat's senior commercial counsel, Richard Fontana, explained: Other Red Hat-based projects considering this license protection include Anaconda, Red Hat's operating system installation program Candlepin the Cockpit server manager and Koji, the RPM package builder. These provide core components of Red Hat's JBoss Middleware, Red Hat Gluster Storage, and Red Hat Satellite products. Within Red Hat's non-commercial software family, the WildFly, GlusterFS and Pulp projects have added the language. Indeed, some people believe a singly copyright violation could lead to a lawsuit even if the copyright holders haven't bothered to tell the alleged violators of what was going down before seeking legal recourse. In its new position statement, Red Hat explained that the GPLv2 and LGPL, as written, has led to the belief that automatic license termination and copyright infringement claims can result from a single act of inadvertent non-compliance. We view legal action as a last resort, to be initiated only when other community efforts have failed to resolve the problem.' We want to work with users in an open and transparent way to eliminate any uncertainty about our expectations regarding compliance or enforcement that might limit adoption of our software. We want companies and individuals to use, modify and distribute this software. The purpose? The top Linux developers explained, 'Our intent in providing these assurances is to encourage more use of the software. Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.If you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.