Droidreader licensing
Dittimon
Hans-Werner Hilse
you don't need to buy a license in order to use the code in a
commercial application.
But it's a bit difficult:
- the GPLv3 grants you rights to use it. The GPLv3 assures you some
rights, but if you use them, you accept obligations.
- in case you use it under the GPLv3 you correctly assumed that you
are obliged to make your code open source, too.
However, there might be an alternative path (but don't hold your
breath, this is probably not viable for pactical reasons): you can ask
to get the code under different terms. You would have to ask that all
the copyright holders for the whole codebase. That would, for one, not
be restricted to i.e. me. For example, the guys who wrote muPDF, on
which DroidReader is largely based on, would also have to grant an
alternative license. And they used libraries too, which were published
under various licenses you would need alternatives for. So in
practice, your only choice is probably the GPLv3 if you're interested
in the code.
All this is relevant only for software that directly uses the
DroidReader code. Using DroidReader as an application level part of a
full system solution, e.g. a customized variant of Android that just
ships DroidReader, would only lead to the obligation to publish that
exact DroidReader code you used - but not the surrounding
applications, OS customizations or similar.
That said, IANAL, but I'm on my way to become one (no really, I'm a
law student in that other half of my life)...
Since I started DroidReader using muPDF, the GPLv3 was the only option
for me, too - since muPDF is published under that license. At least I
chose to do it under that license, I did not ask the muPDF people for
different terms.
-hwh
2012/2/29 Dittimon <ditt...@gmail.com>: