Hi Can someone please explain meaning of different free GNU, GPL Open licences. So for eg. can these free software be packaged/distributed and legally sold for a price? Thanks.
No it cannot be sold. But yeah If you make some changes to it. Then ship the original package as it is then the add on changes package can be sold. Bcoz it was made by you and you have rights on it. If I am wrong then please comment. But this is what I understand to be the way.
If I release a software X under the terms of the GPL or LGPL for example, you are not allowed to sell it. However if you release software Y and the source code is open you may charge for the software. Boby
On the other hand you CAN sell it, for the work you have done on it. You are selling the WORK you have done not the actual soft/script/whatever/
If you bundle or create a distribution of several freewares, you might be able to make for your service of distributing them but not for the software itself as you cannot claim credits for them and you need to respect that it is free. For example, if you create a database of all the freewares or sell them off a CD, you can charge for the CD or for your work in creating the database. Like Embrance said, you can only sell your work but not others work.
for this to understand first u need to understand whats it means by "free". here the word free is as we use in freedom and not as in "free beer". in other words you can download free software like linux Os. put in cd. put that cd in box and sell it for 1 million dollar. its legal and fine. only condition is that u have to give the same level of freedom to the customer that u received. that means he should also be able to sell, modify or give it for free. you second doubt is that can we change the license after modifing the code, the answer is NO. for more detail visit gnu.org
I don’t think you can sell it. When you buy a boxed Linux Os what you’re actually buying is the CD’s, book, customer service, third party software but not the actual Linux software. All Gnu software that’s improved or altered has to be released under the same license so once again has to be made freely available to all.
with GPL software i believe you're allowed to charge for CDs, manuals and so forth, you just can't charge for access to it. groups that create distributions can charge for copies on CD, but the downloadable copies are still free.
well, do you have a basis for the statement? it seems contrary to copyright/IP laws, but it's fully possible i'm wrong
Instead of trying to make a few pennies of another's work, why not hit the books or use your own initiative to create your own stuff for profit and distribution.
not copyright = public domain under the GNU/GPL you are required to release new versions for free too http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/ some of the more liberal opensource licenses do allow you to sell the software unchanged though, i think the MIT and BSD licenses permit it.
All changes that you make to the software has to be release under the same license. There are no two ways about it.
Hi I looked at GNU and Debian and it does say that generally these software can be sold! http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney http://www.debian.org/intro/free Cheers!