License on Processing based application

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jeff_g

License on Processing based application

in General Discussion • Other • 3 years ago

I have a Processing sketch (full application now) that I'd like to release freely to the members of Interpol for visualizing data related to law enforcement investigations. However, I don't know much about the licenses with regard to redistribution that I've used to create this application. Could someone provide some guidance on how I could release this (license wise) and what major restrictions I have with regard to the dependent components. I've always contributed back to the core source of any dependent library I used. Here are the licenses on the pieces used: LGPL, BSD, GPL, & Apache 2.0.

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PhiLho

Re: License on Processing based application

3 years ago

Usual disclaimer, IANAL. Far from it!
LGPL and GPL licenses require that you make publicly available, or contribute back, the changes you made to the libraries (looks like you did).
In theory, if you use a GPL library, you are supposed to make the source code of your whole application public! That's the so-called viral nature of GPL. Now, the Java platform knows the "GPL with classpath exception" which isn't very clear in my mind, but seems to act like LGPL, ie. you don't need to publish the whole source. But seek advice of somebody more knowledgeable than me on the matter!
Note that if you use GPL tools to make software (the GNU compiler, the PDE, etc.), you don't need to make your software GPL (I believe authors make exception to the GPL on the core libraries (C runtime, core.jar, etc.). Again, don't take my word on it, I just try and throw base, perhaps incorrect information, to get you started...

jeff_g

Re: License on Processing based application

3 years ago

I think all the GPL licenses are v2, so they should have a linking exception. I include a couple GPL applications that I call during a process to produce output. For example, I use xpdf to parse a pdf file and xpdf is released under GPL v2.

Do you have any suggestions for what license I could apply to the code to make it freely available to this select group. Since I performed it on work hours, I can't just make it public to everyone. My employer will only allow me to give it to law enforcement at the moment.

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