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<title>Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL |
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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> |
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<h2>Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL</h2> |
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<address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard |
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Stallman</a></address> |
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<p>Selling exceptions means that the copyright holder of the code |
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releases it to the general public under a valid free software license, |
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then separately offers users the option of paying for permission to |
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use the same code under different terms, for instance terms allowing |
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its inclusion in proprietary applications.</p> |
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|
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<p>We must distinguish the practice of selling exceptions from something |
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crucially different: purely proprietary extensions or versions of |
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a free program. These two activities, even if practiced |
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simultaneously by one company, are different issues. In selling |
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exceptions, the same code that the exception applies to is available |
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to the general public as free software. An extension or a modified |
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version that is only available under a proprietary license is |
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proprietary software, pure and simple, and just as wrong as any other |
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proprietary software. This article is concerned with cases that |
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involve strictly and only the sale of exceptions.</p> |
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|
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<p>We must also distinguish selling exceptions from dual licensing, |
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which means releasing the program under a choice of licenses. With |
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dual licensing, each user can choose to use the program under either |
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one of the licenses, or under both in parallel for activities that fit |
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both. (Thus, redistributors normally pass along both of the |
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licenses.) For instance, Perl was distributed for many years under a |
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dual license whose alternatives were the GNU GPL and the Artistic |
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License. That is not necessary any more because version 2 of the |
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Artistic License is compatible with the GNU GPL.</p> |
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<p>In selling exceptions, the exception's terms are not a second |
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license that the program is released under. Rather, they are |
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available only to those users that buy an exception. The only license |
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that the release carries is the GNU GPL, so this is not dual |
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licensing.</p> |
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|
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<p>We must distinguish selling of exceptions from the usual kind of |
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“exception to the GPL,” which simply gives all users |
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permission to go beyond the GPL's conditions in some specific way. |
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These exceptions are governed by section 7 of the GNU GPL. Selling |
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exceptions is legally independent of the GNU GPL. To avoid confusion |
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it is best not to refer to exceptions that are sold as |
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“exceptions to the GPL.”</p> |
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<p>I've considered selling exceptions acceptable since the 1990s, and on |
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occasion I've suggested it to companies. Sometimes this approach has |
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made it possible for important programs to become free software.</p> |
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|
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<p>The KDE desktop was developed in the 90s based on the Qt library. Qt |
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was proprietary software, and TrollTech charged for permission to |
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embed it in proprietary applications. TrollTech allowed gratis use of |
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Qt in free applications, but this did not make it free/libre software. |
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Completely free operating systems therefore could not include Qt, so |
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they could not use KDE either.</p> |
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<p>In 1998, the management of TrollTech recognized that they could |
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make Qt free software and continue charging for permission to embed it |
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in proprietary software. I do not recall whether the suggestion came |
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from me, but I certainly was happy to see the change, which made it |
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possible to use Qt and thus KDE in the free software world.</p> |
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<p>Initially, they used their own license, the Q Public License |
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(QPL)—quite restrictive as free software licenses go, and |
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incompatible with the GNU GPL. Later they switched to the GNU GPL; I |
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think I had explained to them that it would work for the purpose.</p> |
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<p>Selling exceptions depends fundamentally on using a copyleft |
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license, such as the GNU GPL, for the free software release. A |
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copyleft license permits embedding in a larger program only if the |
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whole combined program is released under that license; this is how it |
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ensures extended versions will also be free. Thus, users that want to |
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make the combined program proprietary need special permission. Only |
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the copyright holder can grant that, and selling exceptions is one |
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style of doing so. Someone else, who received the code under the GNU |
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GPL or another copyleft license, cannot grant an exception.</p> |
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<p>When I first heard of the practice of selling exceptions, I asked |
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myself whether the practice is ethical. If someone buys an exception |
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to embed a program in a larger proprietary program, he's doing |
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something wrong (namely, making proprietary software). Does it follow |
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that the developer that sold the exception is doing something wrong |
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too?</p> |
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<p>If that implication were valid, it would also apply to releasing the |
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same program under a noncopyleft free software license, such as the |
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X11 license. That also permits such embedding. So either we have to |
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conclude that it's wrong to release anything under the X11 |
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license—a conclusion I find unacceptably extreme—or reject |
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the implication. Using a noncopyleft license is weak, |
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and <a href="/licenses/license-recommendations.html">usually an |
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inferior choice</a>, but it's not wrong.</p> |
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<p>In other words, selling exceptions permits limited embedding of the |
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code in proprietary software, but the X11 license goes even further, |
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permitting unlimited use of the code (and modified versions of it) in |
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proprietary software. If this doesn't make the X11 license |
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unacceptable, it doesn't make selling exceptions unacceptable.</p> |
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<p>There are three reasons why the FSF doesn't practice selling |
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exceptions. One is that it doesn't lead to the FSF's goal: assuring |
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freedom for each user of our software. That's what we wrote the GNU |
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GPL for, and the way to achieve this most thoroughly is to release |
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under GPL version 3-or-later and not allow embedding in proprietary |
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software. Selling exceptions wouldn't achieve this, just as release |
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under the X11 license wouldn't. So normally we don't do either of |
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those things: we release under the GPL only.</p> |
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<p>Another reason we release only under the GPL is so as not to permit |
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proprietary extensions that would present practical advantages over |
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our free programs. Users for whom freedom is not a value might choose |
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those nonfree versions rather than the free programs they are based |
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on—and lose their freedom. We don't want to encourage that.</p> |
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<p>There are occasional cases where, for specific reasons of |
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strategy, we decide that using a more permissive license on a certain |
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program is better for the cause of freedom. In those cases, we |
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release the program to everyone under that permissive license.</p> |
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<p>This is because of another ethical principle that the FSF follows: |
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to treat all users the same. An idealistic campaign for freedom |
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should not discriminate, so the FSF is committed to giving the same |
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license to all users. The FSF never sells exceptions; whatever |
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license or licenses we release a program under, that is available to |
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everyone.</p> |
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<p>But we need not insist that companies follow that principle. I |
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consider selling exceptions an acceptable thing for a company to do, |
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and I will suggest it where appropriate as a way to get programs |
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freed.</p> |
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