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FOSS In government use (iusearchlinux.fyi)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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My question in FOSS is whether, or how the license applies, if anyone can clarify it for me. I'm not going into a legal battle, I just am having issues rectifying the licensing with my expectations.

Also, ia most FOSS is written this way, with an expectation that organizations have to pay for licensing to use the software?

The issue below is for AGPL and PDFCreator. AGPL, if I read it correctly, seems to restrict restrictions on the license.

I work as MSP for an entity who uses PDFCreator, quite possibly based on a previous license.

I can't otherwise explain the use or make changes myself, other than it is used as a PDF printer on user desktops to create digital documents.

What I can say is that we had recently attempted to automate the process of installing it with new computers. We ran into a minor hiccup and contacted their support for assistance. The response was that the program is not intended for free use in a corporate environment and that we will need to purchase licenses.

While I take issue with their determination and restriction of the use, it is their software and they make the rules. I'm not sure if they are violating the GPL, but I'd like some understanding if anything has a different interpretation.

We will most likely just use the built in PDF creator. A loss for the FOSS footprint, but not something I can control.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The GPL (and AGPL) do place some restrictions on how you can integrate it into another application but this doesn't have anything to do with commercial use.

Basically, if you create a derivative work and publish/sell it, you also need to license it under the AGPL. In case of the AGPL it also applied if you use it to offer a service. But if you only use the unmodified version (same source code) and the intended application interfaces, this does not apply.

Running the application on Windows is clearly allowed. The second case also sounds ok (allowing this is kinda the point of FOSS). However, if you create an improved version of PDFCreater, then you'll need to publish it under the same AGPL license.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks. It's good to hear someone outline what I was thinking. I'm frustrated that the support response made it sound like we shouldn't be using the software, but I guess I'll get over it.