Android Question Can I use GPL libraries on Commercial Apps?

[hibrid0]

English:
Hi guys, I have a question about this, I'm a newbe on B4A and Android.
I use a lot of Libraries from this forum, wrappers, and some libraries are outside here.

My questions is: Can I use GPL libraries on Commercial apps without open source?



Spanish:

Hola chicos, tengo una pregunta sobre esto, soy un newbe en B4A y Android.
Yo uso un montón de bibliotecas y envoltorios para las bibliotecas fuera de este foro, y mucho son licencia GPL u otra.

Mi pregunta es: ¿Puedo utilizar bibliotecas GPL para Aplicaciones Comerciales y sin código abierto?

Licenses:

Apache
GPL
AGPL
LGPL
MIT
BSD


I think the license LGPL is better for libraries, I'm no an expert.

 

[eurojam]

Creo, si utilizas una biblioteca bajo GPL, el producto tiene que ser bajo la misma licencia (GPL).
If you use GPL, the product must be under the same licence (GPL).
stefan

 

[hibrid0]

anybody?

Creo, si utilizas una biblioteca bajo GPL, el producto tiene que ser bajo la misma licencia (GPL).
If you use GPL, the product must be under the same licence (GPL).
stefan

Hi eurojam, the post on spanish was my mistake with the Google Chrome Translate feature (Si tambien hablo español).
In some forums I read info about the GPL libraries will be used on apps without GPL license, because we dont change anything on the library. But I dont know if is true.
I write al email to Richard Stallman, but I dont know if he will like to respond.

 

[Troberg]

It's LGPL that allows library use. Ordinary GPL requires you to put your code under GPL as well.

 

[Informatix]

GPL and the other licenses are clearly explained on Wikipedia.

 

[hibrid0]

Richard Stallman Answer:

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

> Can I use libraries with GPL licenses on commercial apps without open source?I do not want to talk about "open source" since that is the slogan of
people who disagree fundamentally with me and with the free software
movement. Let's talk about "free" and "nonfree".

See http://gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
for more explanation of the difference between free software and open
source. See also http://thebaffler.com/past/the_meme_hustler for
Evgeny Morozov's article on the same point.

A program is free if it comes with source code and gives the users
the four essential freedoms. See http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.

Whether the program is commercial (from a business) or not
is a side issue that we think is not important.

If you include some GPL-covered code in a program, then legally
you must distribute the whole program under the GPL. Which means,
in particular, you must distribute the _whole_ program as free software.

That's the purpose of the GPL!

See http://gnu.org/licenses.

 

[hibrid0]

Answer from [email protected]:

Hello and thank you for writing in.


> Hi FSF, I know your work is very important. And I'm a new developer
> for Android devices. I use a lot of libraries with GPL licenses on my
> apps, I like to know if I'm in the obligation to do my apps open
> source.

> I ask this because I don't have any problem (with exception bulling
> for my low quality code) open my codes, but some works are for
> clients.

> Then that my question. Can I use GPL licenses on apps without open
> source?

No, if you distribute an application which includes GPL'd libraries then
you must release your application, as a whole, under the terms of the
GNU GPL. This means (among other things) providing the full
corresponding source to the libraries and your code.