At 17:17 22-1-03, you wrote:
The GPL can be a headache to figure out when it gets to complicated situations.I was wondering what the licensing issues for app frameworks (or any included PHP classes/libs) are. I'm creating a rather large PHP application for a company, and they'd like to potentially resell it to some of their customers.Can I safely use GPL'd libraries, classes, etc. (i.e. PearDB) and resources that fall under other open source licenses when developing the app and let them redistribute accordingly, or would that be a violation? Also, thinking ahead here a bit, if they wanted to use something like Zend Encoder on the project, what sort of added gotchas could that bring up? Thanks guys! John
My uneducated working conclusion is that the GPL prevents you from selling GPL-ed code as is, or improved GPL-ed code. Selling GPL-ed code, even if you improved it, is dead wrong. Even if you eventually totally rewrote the code.
The hazy bit comes when you use a free base and write your own code that sits on top of the base. It cannot work without the base but it is a package of files you wrote. The Nuke communities are still having the odd discussion whether one can charge for a module when the system it fits in is GPL-ed.
I think the most polite thing to do is to write the makers of PearDB and ask their opinion. The nicest thing to do is to get negotiating, and offer them a part of your sales.
There are some pages on this subject to be found on the GPL site.
If all else fails you could sell your hours to get the code working, and give the code for free, if needed under a distribution limitation or encoded.
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