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Can you use AGPL libraries with closed source software?
If we follow the comments it turns out that you can use AGPL libraries with your closed-source, commercial server-side software, as long as you don’t modify the library. Is that the case? Or you have to distribute your entire application when you use an AGPL licensed library?
Do you have to have AGPL license to use Google?
AGPL Policy WARNING: Code licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL) MUST NOT be used at Google. The license places restrictions on software used over a network which are extremely difficult for Google to comply with. Using AGPL software requires that anything it links to must also be licensed under the AGPL.
What does AGPL do on top of GPL?
What AGPL does on top of GPL is the redefinition of user. For GPL programs running on your server, you are the user, for AGPL, the real users of the app are the users of your website or service. Therefore you are distributing the app if someone other than you is using it. And that of course implies all the standard GPL requirements.
Can a GPL code be distributed alongside an app?
The (A)GPL work cannot be distributed alongside the final application even as a separate app (eg, putting them into the same archive or repository), although it’s fine to provide instructions on where to find the GPL work and how to use it with your app. AGPL is the same as GPL; therefore if your app is using AGPL code it has to be AGPL licensed.
Do you need a GPL license to use a library?
The GPL is viral in nature ( copyleft) so if you use or extend GPL-ed software then you are required to GPL your derived work. However, most libraries are intended to be reused and the GPL license doesn’t make sense. That is why there is the LGPL or ” Lesser GNU Public License “.
Can you use GPL code in a JAR file?
However, most libraries are intended to be reused and the GPL license doesn’t make sense. That is why there is the LGPL or “Lesser GNU Public License”. This license allows you to use GPL-ed code in a library setting without requiring your application to be GPL-ed. If the JAR file is distributed under the LGPL you should be OK.
When is AGPL software considered a derived work?
If your end application depends on the external process, such that it wouldn’t function properly without it, then it would be considered a derived work of the AGPL software.
Do you have to make GPL source available?
(b) If you do distribute YOUR APPLICATION, and you used something GPL as part of your application (even if only linking at run-time to a library) – and even if you do not charge money – and even if you do not change that GPL s/w in any way – then you MUST make the source of YOUR APPLICATION available. Making source available does not mean download.