Bug #2559
closedCAMS license problem
0%
Description
Inconsistent licensing¶
nephelae_base, nephelae_mesonh and nephelae_paparazzi have the BSD 3-clause
nephelae_gui, nephelae_planner and nephelae_utils don't have any license
No explicit license for the source code = Privative software, therefore no one can use it besides LAAS employees.
Incompatible license¶
Paparazzi is provided with the GNU version 2 or later license. This means CAMS has to be GNU version 2 or later because we use the pprzlink library.
Proposed solution¶
Hence, we should find an adequate ( libre of course!) software license for CAMS. Potential candidates:
- GPLv3+
- AGPLv3+
We can stay on GPL for CAMS or move to AGPL in this particular case as it is adapted to programs used on servers. Because CAMS has a very strong web dimension choosing AGPL provides end users with a guarantee of getting access to the source code. Regular GPL only requires providing the sources with the binary code but not when the program is used through a network...
I think none of the paparazzi developers will sue LAAS, but we need to think about future potential users of CAMS that could be in danger due to our licensing malpractice!