Thread

Surely, I will have to talk to a lawyer somewhere along the lines, but I’m not to that point yet…I’d rather get some feedback here.

I’m developing an application using the CI framework. I originally wanted to make it free and open source, so that this awesome community can contribute to it and make it as good as it can possibly be - but I’ve integrated a 3rd party piece of software that is not free.  I purchased the Developer license, but the original authors haven’t really given me much feedback on my limitations on what I can and can’t do with it.

Common sense tells me that no - I can’t simply release this application free, because I would essentially be releasing their software for free too.

So what should I do about licensing the software? I’m not too well versed on license options I have available to me.

And then there’s the other type of “license” - the license I sell to a user to use the software..could or should I use something like this PHP License Manager or PHPAudit?

Thanks for the tips 😊

Would help to know what license they released the code under that you want to use. Or a link to the software site may give us some clues.

http://www.sibsoft.net/xupload.html
License for single domain (the only “license” info that can be found)
This program is the intellectual property of SibSoft Ltd. By ordering one copy of XUpload Pro license, you obtain right to use (install) it on only one domain/website. Redistribution is prohibited, and copies are permitted only for backup purposes. You are free to modify the program for your own use, but you may not distribute any modified copies of it. Feel free to use XUpload Free version on any domains you wish, however XUpload Pro could be used on only one domain per license.

There is no information regarding the developer license that I purchased. I spoke directly with one of the guys who runs the company, and he e-mailed me the following information:

If you want to sell xupload as a part of your application, then we can offer
developer license. You will be able to include xupload into your product and
sell it. The only one limitation is that you’re not allowed to sell Xupload
separately (as is, not as part of your application).

Well the last thing that you quote sounds pretty definitive. I think you should be safe to sell your application using the xupload. And if anyone queries it keep that quote (hopefully in original form) as proof. If they later say actually this is against the terms then you can do something about it.

Well my reading of that response is that they want you to purchase a special license to allow redistribution.  You’d do well to secure a lawyer, but this is typically how redistribution agreements work - they are on different terms and not included in the standard public license.

Thanks Gary & Derek.

In regards to selling the software - how do you deal with end users?  How is EE released, and do you guys use anything that tracks licenses? Or do you just trust that the people purchasing it will use it within the license agreement?

Over the years we’ve found that if you treat your users like good and honest people, they’ll prove you right.  We don’t use PHP encryption/obfuscation, and we don’t require any post-install product registration.  There are some features that only enabled with a valid license, but that’s as close as we’ve ever come to the ‘register your product’ network authentication.  We firmly believe that validation attempts like those used by Microsoft products and many video game publishers only frustrate honest people, which are the majority, and do nothing to stop theft.  If people are intent on stealing your product, they’ll find a way.  If you don’t give them a reason to, then you won’t find it a problem.

:cheese:

I appreciate your insight on the matter

Hi Nate,

It seems you might have gleaned all you were looking for out of this thread already… but I wanted to ask - why cripple the concept of free & open source software with a non-free third party library?  I mean it’s cool that they let you sell your application when your app uses it… but it’s still sort of against the concepts of free (as in speech) software.

For the above stated reasons…I would be releasing someone elses software that is not free.

edit: Should have read a litte slower…

I cannot find any free software that is as good as the Pro version of xUpload. the ability to process HUGE files is not something CI will ever do… I’ve used Uber Uploader - and while yes, it’s free - it’s not near as easy to integrate into CodeIgniter. 

With xUpload, it’s a matter of processing the returned data that xUpload returns to CodeIgniter.

If you have any suggestions that are comparable to xUpload, I’m willing to give it a go 😊

Sorry if I wasn’t clear in my message.

You stated you would like to release the application you are building as free and open source so the community can contribute.  However, you have included some non-free code, which essentially cripples the idea of truly distributing your software as free.

My question is, why have you chosen to include a non-free piece of software to include in your otherwise free application?

Because I can’t find anything that compares to xUpload.