A license is a legal document that describes the conditions set by the copyright owner on the use and distribution of a copyrighted work, such as software.

Licensing

Using appropriate licensing terms is a key part of our professional Open Source strategy. After carefully considering several Open Source licenses, we have selected the Open Software License (OSL), version 3.0, as the primary Open Source license for our products.

We believe the OSL strikes the perfect balance between the interests of users of our software, the interests of the development community working on Aduna-sponsored Open Source projects and our own interests as a commercial entity.

What does it mean?

Use and modification of our software

It is our understanding that the OSL allows you to use our software as-is without restriction, for free. This means you are allowed to run the software on your own system(s) as much as you want, for any purpose you deem fit, as long as access to the software is limited to yourself.

You are also allowed to modify the software as much as you wish, again as long as this is done for internal use only.

Distribution or external deployment

Should you want to distribute our software or your modifications of it, or make the software available to third parties by running it on a public server, for example, things get a bit more complicated. You are allowed to do this, as long as you yourself use the OSL for this. Among other things, this means you have to provide access to the source code and documentation of the original software, as well as any modifications you have made to it. Of course, the best way to ensure others can benefit from your additions and modifications, is by contributing them to the appropriate Aduna Open Source project at www.aduna-software.org.

Other conditions

The OSL has several other conditions with regards to patents, responsibilities, guarantees and liabilities. We feel these conditions give users and contributors the freedom and security they need, while at the same time protecting us from having to ensure or provide things we can't provide.

Aduna Commercial License

If, for some reason, you are unable or unwilling to comply with the terms of the OSL, we can make our software available to you under the terms of the Aduna Commercial License (ACL) upon request. The ACL is tied to a specific contract between you and Aduna that describes the exact conditions for use, modification and distribution.

Once again, only the license that comes with the software you receive or download from us exactly describes the terms and conditions set on the use and distribution of that software. Consult a qualified legal professional to make sure those terms are appropriate for your situation.