LiveCode Forums.

Hey guys, I've got a quick question, does the applications we would produce with the open source version of LiveCode have to be licensed under GPL or can we use an alternate license as long as the code is open source? Because I think being restricted to the GPL license may be out of the option for some developers, personally I'm partial to the license that Firefox uses where you can use the source code but keep your mitts off the name.

Cheers.

PS. Has anyone thought about setting up a sub-reddit for LC? I know a couple of people posted about LC in the /r/programming reddit and I think it might be a great way to spread LCs wings even further given the size of Reddit.

IANAL but section 5 c) of the GPL 3 states "You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy."

Re Reddit... you did! Build it and we will come

mickpitkin92 wrote:Because I think being restricted to the GPL license may be out of the option for some developers, personally I'm partial to the license that Firefox uses where you can use the source code but keep your mitts off the name.

While the MPL differs from the GPL, many FOSS projects trademark the product's name to avoid confusion between the main code base and any forks which may be derived from it.

For example, Ubuntu has been forked maybe more than any other Linux distro, but they retain not only full rights to the name "Ubuntu", but also maintain the trademarks for some derivative forks like Kubuntu and Edubuntu, and ask the community to honor their tradition by avoiding any name which includes "*buntu" in it.

I support this practice as it serves its goal well, keeping the main code base distinct from forked variants in the minds of people coming to a software new who may not otherwise immediately know the difference.

FourthWorld wrote:

mickpitkin92 wrote:Because I think being restricted to the GPL license may be out of the option for some developers, personally I'm partial to the license that Firefox uses where you can use the source code but keep your mitts off the name.

While the MPL differs from the GPL, many FOSS projects trademark the product's name to avoid confusion between the main code base and any forks which may be derived from it.

For example, Ubuntu has been forked maybe more than any other Linux distro, but they retain not only full rights to the name "Ubuntu", but also maintain the trademarks for some derivative forks like Kubuntu and Edubuntu, and ask the community to honor their tradition by avoiding any name which includes "*buntu" in it.

I support this practice as it serves its goal well, keeping the main code base distinct from forked variants in the minds of people coming to a software new who may not otherwise immediately know the difference.

I'm glad you agree with me Richard. Thank you.