I have tried to understand the LPGL-license but I can't wrap my head around it...

One thing that I am wondering is that can I make my product that is based on Liferay (needs Liferay installation) and wrap the the Liferay and my product as a bundle ? So that I could for example sell my product ? So if I would create a "business application" could I sell that and Liferay as a base for my clients ? I would not modify any Liferay source code but my product would use Liferay APIs (for example user management).

So can I make a installation package which contains Liferay and my application and sell it to my customers?

Thank you kindly

Best Regards Tuomas

I would suggest to use Liferay as platform and not as part of the product, that way you could get more users to your product, since they do not have to have Liferay just for you.

Next year Liferay is launching marketplace, which might be place also for your applictation.

Anyway as I understand, LGPL license does not contaminate your product, but all the changes that you do for Liferay source files you have continue to publish under LGPL. Java it self is linking all the class files together dynamically so I believe the boundary is there.

- Sampsa

Probaby the "safer" way is not to bundle your application with Liferay. This way, your program would not be bound to by
LGPL and you'll be able to have a different license for it.

If your application is just jsp files and css files, you really don't have to make the complete Liferay source available because
jsp files and css files aren't compiled so their source codes can be "freely" seen and used by other developers. But, you have
allow others to "freely" use your source code.

I am planning a application where Liferay's APIs would come in handy, and would not need to implement those my self. For example user management and document storing. But if I need to license my application as LGPL this will not work. So the main question is can I make my application work so that it run on top of Liferay and I can sell my application with Liferay ?

If I need to license my application with LGPL that would not suit me.

Thank you

Best Regards Tuomas

LGPL is one of the most permissive licence. It allows you to do almost what you want : it will not contaminate your application.
So:
"If I need to license my application with LGPL that would not suit me." ==> You will not need to license your application with LGPL.

BUT: if you sell a product with no additive value than the one of the OpenSource application you are using, I don't think you will sell a lot. But this is not a license policy consideration, just a business consideration ;).

Thank you for your quick answer. I was thinking of building this kind of "Task management" application, and thought that Liferay marketplace could by one of the channels to sell it. But if I would need sell to sell my application via different channels, it could be done ?

So that my applications "installation package" could contain Liferay and my application ? So that I could bundle these two together ?

I would like to use Liferay's APIs for my application, for example with user management etc. so I would not need to implement those my self..

Sorry, I don't understand.




Yes you can. You do not sell Liferay but your application (your code). Your code can use Liferay API and your final release can contain Liferay.

I think Liferay Marketplace is a place to sell Liferay plugins rather than Liferay bundled applications. So, you just need to make your plugin available at Marketplace
without Liferay.

Also, I think you're misunderstanding LPGL. LPGL does not restrict you from selling your application, it just conditions you to distribute your source code if you modify the LPGL source code directly. In other words, if you modify Liferay and bundle your application with it, when you sell your bundled Liferay package, you also have to include all of your source code with it.

Finally, if you're worried about the license, Liferay.com offers OEM license.