T H E C O I N L I C E N S I N G F A Q 0 . G e n e r a l q u e s t i o n s Q 0.0: Coin is under the GNU General Public License ("GPL"). Can I use it in my proprietary, commercially sold application? A: No, the GNU GPL restricts the applications that can use Coin to have to be Free Software, and otherwise compatible with the GNU GPL. The distribution and availability of the Coin library under the GNU GPL is primarily meant to be a service for those who write other Free Software libraries or applications. If you write proprietary software and would like to use the Coin library, see the next question. Q 0.1: Is it possible to use the Coin library without the restrictions of the GNU GPL? A: Yes, as a service for those who would like to use the Coin library in proprietary software, we at Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies offer the "Coin Professional Edition License" which buys developers that are license holders the option to use the library with no strings attached. The "Coin Professional Edition License" covers all the Coin libraries, unless otherwise specified. By "no strings attached", we of course mean that you as a software developer would not have to obey the restrictions of the GNU GPL, as you would use the Coin library under our "Professional Edition" license instead. The Coin Professional Edition License additionally covers other libraries in the "Coin family" for no extra cost, including all the GUI toolkits (SoQt, SoWin, SoGtk, SoXt, Sc21) and Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies 3D file format libraries Dime and Profit. See for more information about the details of these libraries. Prioritized support services is also part of the package -- your support requests will be sent straight to the top of the todo-stack of our developers. The developers used as first-tier support for our Coin Professional Edition License holders are the same people who have written all the sourcecode of the library in the first place, so you will be in very good hands. We take pride in giving our customers excellent support, and since the Coin libraries are what our developers love to work with, it's given with a smile. :-) Oh, and one additional benefit from being a Coin Professional Edition License holder: you are allowed to cut'n'paste from our sourcecode and use it in your own applications without having to worry about licensing issues. This is for instance very convenient when writing extension components for Coin, like new nodes or action types. You may also cut'n'paste code from all our example programs in the same manner (these are also originally under the GNU GPL, by the way). Q 0.2: How can you sell a "Professional Edition License" when the library is released under the GNU GPL? Wouldn't that be disallowed by the GNU GPL? A: Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies can do this dual licensing "trick" with Coin because we are full copyright holders -- ie we own every single line of code written for the Coin library. Therefore we are able to license the Coin library both as Free Software aswell as under a special purpose license for proprietary software vendors. (If you are familiar with TrollTech's "Qt" library, they use the same strategy.) Q 0.3: What happens if I don't renew my Coin PEL? Can I still continue using Coin? A: Yes. You can continue development using the last version of Coin (or any earlier version, if you want) that was released while you were a registered PEL holder. Version in this context means "release with a unique version number", so for instance 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 count as different versions. Of course you are not allowed to use any version of Coin that was released after the expiry date, and you will not get any more developer support. Q 0.4: Can't I just use the Coin Free Edition to develop my software in-house, and then get a PEL and switch to a non-Free license just before I release it? A: From a strictly legal point of view, this is possible. As long as you do not release binaries, you do not need to release the source code either, so you can work on a piece of software under the terms of the GPL, and then re-license it before releasing it. We strongly discourage this approach, though, for several reasons. First, the Free Edition of Coin is intended for Free Software developers, and using it for proprietary development obviously is against this intention. Second, the PEL is meant to be a per-developer license, taking into account that you are likely to need professional support when doing your development. By getting a PEL when you start developing your software, you can benefit from our priority support when you actually need it - during development. Third, note that even if you never release the in-house GPL version to the public, the terms of the GPL are valid for all the people involved in the project. That means that everybody with access to the software has the irrevokable right to get the source code and distribute it to whomever they want, including posting it on public websites etc. - and this would be perfectly legal. This is the freedom granted by the GPL, and it intentionally clashes with proprietary development. I . C o n c e r n i n g t h e n e w P E L ( v 2 ) Q 1.0: I am a Coin PEL holder. What does the new Coin PEL (v2) change for me? A: Nothing. The new Coin PEL is merely a more detailed specification of the currently valid rights and conditions. Q 1.1: So then why did you bother making a new one? A: In the previous license, many points were either not covered at all, or not in enough detail. The many questions that we received concerning the actual rights and restrictions showed us the importance of clearly stating these things, and the Coin-2 release was a good opportunity to put the new license in place. Q 1.2: So, how about a summary in English instead of Legalese? A: My pleasure - here you go. Paragraph by paragraph (note: everything that is said about Coin below also applies to the So* libraries and Dime/Profit): After the definition of what the license is about, and whom it concerns, it is stated that SIM is and remains the copyright holder and owner of Coin - the license gives you the right to use the software, we do not sell it to you. You are getting a license for one individual - you, or somebody in your company. We are deliberately not restrictive about this "in your company", so it's perfectly okay to acquire a company license and have an external consultant be the actual Coin developer. The important part is the idea that it is a personal developer license, not a "site license" or a company-wide license. So one license is needed for each developer working on Coin-related development. The license is valid for one year, after which you will get a renewal offer from us. You are allowed to use Coin to develop your product, whatever that is - except if you are developing a directly competing product. You can ship binary version of Coin - modified or unmodified - with your product. You are also allowed to distribute the source code, but only in unmodified form. If you have changed anything, you must distribute the original source code plus patches. (See also next question.) You will get one year of free upgrades, and you are entitled to developer support for that period. Now if you don't extend your license after one year, you can of course still ship your product. You are also allowed to continue doing development using the last version of Coin that was released while you had a valid license. You will not get any more updates, and you will not get any more support. The rest is off-the-shelf legal provisions - standard clauses in the (unexpected) case of a lawsuit, statement that we don't take any warranty (you are responsible for e.g. loss of data) etc. Q 1.3: I am allowed to modify the Coin library itself?! A: Yup. You are allowed to do that, for instance in order to fix bugs or adapt it to your special needs. You are of course not allowed to make a modified version of Coin and sell it as your own product. Note that if you have made modifications to the Coin library, you are not allowed to distribute the modified source code - you have to use source code diffs (patches). You are free to distribute a binary of the changed version without the need to disclose your source code, but then you can't name that binary "Coin". This is necessary to avoid conflicts and confusion. Q 1.4: If I distribute the Coin source code, under what license is it for my customers? A: Under the GPL and PEL. The license is connected to copyrightable material (in our case, the Coin source code), not the modus of distribution. So regardless of how you get the source - from SIM, from somebody else's website, from a Debian CD, from Santa Claus - it will always be under both the GPL and the PEL. That means that your customers can use the Coin source for Free Software development as covered by the GPL. For any proprietary development, they must acquire a PEL. I I . C o n c e r n i n g t h e F r e e E d i t i o n - t h e s w i t c h f r o m L G P L t o G P L Q 2.0: I am a Coin PEL holder. What does the change from LGPL to GPL mean for me? A: Nothing at all. Your rights as PEL user are not in any way affected by the LGPL or GPL version of Coin. Q 2.1: I was using Coin under the LGPL. What does the change from LGPL to GPL mean for me? A: Both the GPL and the LGPL are Free Software licenses. The main difference is that, given that one fulfills a set of restrictions on how the executable is distributed, the LGPL permits the use of the library in proprietary programs, while the GPL does not allow that under any circumstances. In the concrete case of Coin, this comes down to: If you write a Free Software application, licensed under the GPL or another compatible Free Software license, you are allowed to link against Coin. If you write a proprietary application, you are not allowed to use Coin under the GPL - you have to acquire a PEL. Q 2.2: Why are you switching from LGPL to GPL? A: There two main reasons why we are switching from LGPL to GPL. First of all, we strongly believe in Free Software. The idea behind the Free Edition is not to give away Coin - we want to share our work with the Free Software community, to the benefit of those who want to share /their/ software with the community. So if you want to develop Free Software, that's great, and for that purpose, you are welcome and encouraged to use Coin. If you do not develop Free Software, the Free Edition simply does not apply to you; that's what the Coin Professional Edition is for. Secondly, using the GPL instead of the LGPL fits better with our business model. Development costs money :) so of course we don't want people to develop products (non-Free Software, that is) based on Coin without contributing anything to the Coin development and maintenance costs. References: PEL | http://www.coin3d.org/licensing/coin3d/Coin-PEL.txt GPL | http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.txt LGPL | http://www.fsf.org/licenses/lgpl.txt