<![CDATA[Licensing]]>Hi.  I have a quick question for the developers about licensing.  I noticed that NetXMS is under GPL v2.0.  (Just a tip, there should be a place to find this out on the homepage without having to download the source code).

I was wondering whether you have, or would, consider releasing any portion of NetXMS under LGPL.

To clarify, LGPL is the Lesser GPL, and in a nutshell it says that you can build your own custom code (a derivative work) against a library released under the LGPL license without having to release your custom code as GPL.

I am interested in recommending your software to a customer.  NetXMS meets most, but not all, of my customer's requirements and I would be tasked to write some custom software, probably linking against your API, to fill in the missing functionality.  But I'm quite certain that my customer would not consent to releasing the code I develop for them as open source.  LGPL was intended to address just this sort of situation.

Anyway, there are a wide range of attitudes on whether FOSS should be able to be used to build commercial software or not, and I was wondering whether the lack of mention of LGPL was inadvertent or intentional.  Thanks.

Tony

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/topic/976/licensingRSS for NodeFri, 13 Nov 2026 07:40:12 GMTTue, 07 Sep 2010 21:44:33 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:49:28 GMT]]>OK,that definitely helps.  Thanks again.

Tony

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4507https://forum.netxms.org/post/4507Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:49:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:59:38 GMT]]>Subagent is a shared library loaded by nxagentd, so it's nxagentd linked to subagent. The only dependence for any subagent is libnetxms, which is LGPL. From the GPL FAQ (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins) it looks like a borderline case - core agent calls subagents periodically via few entry points. Also, if I understand license correctly, it doesn't matter until you use your proprietary modules in your organization and not selling them.

Best regards,
Victor

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4506https://forum.netxms.org/post/4506Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:59:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:24:56 GMT]]>@victor said in Licensing:

Version 1.0.5 just released, where I have changed licensing for most libraries to LGPL. Current licensing scheme is as follows:

Thanks Victor!  My only remaining concern is with subagents.  Does the GPL licensing of nxagentd and all the subagents mean that a custom subagent cannot be developed without releasing it as GPL?  (I'm still working on getting a build environment configured and do not yet know the dependencies of a subagent, but I assume it would have to link against nxagentd).  Thanks.

Tony

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4505https://forum.netxms.org/post/4505Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:24:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:39:37 GMT]]>Version 1.0.5 just released, where I have changed licensing for most libraries to LGPL. Current licensing scheme is as follows:

NetXMS components:

libnetxms      LGPL
libnxcl        LGPL
libnxdb        LGPL
libnxlp        LGPL
libnxmap        LGPL
libnxmb        GPL
libnxsl        LGPL
libnxsnmp      LGPL
libnxsrv        LGPL
nxagentd        GPL
nxalarm        GPL
nxav            GPL
nxcon          GPL
nxcptest        GPL
nxevent        GPL
nxflowd        GPL
nxhttpd        GPL
nxlexer        GPL
nxlptest        GPL
nxmibc          GPL
nxnotify        GPL
nxpush          GPL
nxscript        GPL
nxsms          GPL
nxsnmpget      GPL
nxsnmpset      GPL
nxsnmpwalk      GPL
nxuilib        GPL

all subagents  GPL
all DB drivers  GPL
all SMS drivers GPL

Third party components bundled with NetXMS:

freetype        BSD-like
libexpat        BSD-like
libgd          BSD-like
libipfix        LGPL
libjpeg        BSD-like
libpng          BSD-like
scilexer        BSD-like
sqlite          BSD-like
zlib            BSD-like

Best regards,
Victor

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4502https://forum.netxms.org/post/4502Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:39:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:24:17 GMT]]>Great!  Thank you very much!

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4443https://forum.netxms.org/post/4443Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:24:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:04:56 GMT]]>I could change it in upcoming 1.0.5 version, which I plan to release this or next week, depending on resolving few serious issues (mostly issue 305).

Best regards,
Victor

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4442https://forum.netxms.org/post/4442Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:04:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:21:42 GMT]]>Thanks very much, that's the answer I was hoping to get.  Do you have any plans to put anything to that effect in writing?  My employer takes license compliance very seriously, so if the only license put forth in writing is GPL, and my proposed use will violate that license, they'll never let me do it, even with your assurance above.  Thanks.

Tony

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4440https://forum.netxms.org/post/4440Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:21:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Licensing on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:57:02 GMT]]>Hi!

You are right, most of the libraries must have LGPL license instead of GPL. One of the main ideas behind NetXMS is to make it a good platform for building customized solutions, so GPL license in each file is mostly because of copy-and-paste then intentional limitations. I'll do review of licensing and change license files appropriately, but anyway you can be sure that you can use all APIs under LGPL license.

Best regards,
Victor

]]>https://forum.netxms.org/post/4436https://forum.netxms.org/post/4436Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:57:02 GMT