Apache2 license faq

So software that uses any GPL-licensed component has to release its full source code and all rights to modify and distribute the entire code.

The Apache License 2. Apache License 2. The resulting software, however, must be released under GPLv3. However, the Apache License 2. Previous Apache versions, being heavily based on the BSD license, are compatible. MIT is one of the most permissive free software licenses. Basically, you can do whatever you want with a software licensed under the MIT license — just make sure that you add a copy of the original MIT license and copyright notice to it. The Apache License is also a permissive license.

However, it has stringent terms when it comes to modifications. The MIT license is also gaining popularity with developers due to its short and clear license agreement, in contrast to the Apache license agreement.

Heck, the appendix alone, which explains how to apply the license, is longer than the entire MIT license. The BSD license is another highly permissible license that allows you to modify and redistribute software licensed under the BSD license as you like. The key differences between the two licenses are:. You can use any Apache License 2.

However, you must not name your product in a way that it looks like an endorsement from Apache. You must also not use any of the Apache marks like the multi-colored feather anywhere in your product or its documentation.

This change ensures that our community and customers have free and open access to use, modify, redistribute, and collaborate on Elasticsearch and Kibana source code. It also protects our continued investment in developing products that we distribute for free and in the open by restricting cloud service providers from offering our products as a service without sharing their modifications and the source code of their service management layers.

The Elastic License 2. Our goal with ELv2 is to be as permissive as possible, while protecting against abuse. The license allows the free right to use, modify, create derivative works, and redistribute, with three simple limitations:.

The aim of these provisions are to protect our products and brand from abuse, while making distribution and modification as simple as possible. If you download and use our default distribution of Elasticsearch and Kibana, nothing changes for you. Our default distribution continues to be free and open under the Elastic License, as it has been for nearly the last three years.

With the Elastic License 2. If you build applications on top of Elasticsearch, nothing changes for you. Our client libraries continue to be licensed under Apache 2. If you use plugins on top of Elasticsearch or Kibana, nothing changes for you. First, a big thank you! To learn more about how to contribute, see our contributor guide. Customers and partners using our products in Elastic Cloud or under a self-managed subscription are not affected by this change.

If you're already a customer or have an agreement to redistribute our default distribution, there is no change. Our default distribution, which has been under the Elastic License for nearly 3 years, requires a direct agreement with Elastic for redistribution. For Open Source projects, we are happy to support your project and provide redistribution rights free of charge. For commercial applications, you have a few options.

To redistribute our default distribution under the Elastic License, reach out to our team to discuss. You may also consider building Elasticsearch and Kibana from source, and in this case, you will need to evaluate whether the terms of the Elastic License or SSPL will work for your use case going forward. The Apache 2. This means that when using the source code, you can choose which set of terms and conditions will best meet your needs.

Our default distribution will continue to be published under the Elastic License as it has been for nearly the last three years, so if you are not using the source code directly, this does not affect you. We have also simplified the Elastic License to be as permissive as possible. Most of our users and customers already use Elastic as part of the default distribution, which has followed the Elastic License for almost three years. However, we wanted to make every effort to be as open and permissive as possible while preventing public cloud providers from offering a hosted service without investing back in the community.

For users that are already using the Elastic License, if you prefer, keep doing so! This has no impact on you. In fact, we have made the Elastic License even more permissive with the Elastic License 2. We chose to also make SSPL an option because we know that it is familiar to millions of users and companies, thanks to its use by MongoDB, its creator, and it provides the kind of freedoms that we deeply value.

SSPL is a source-available license originally created by MongoDB, who set out to craft a license that embodied the ideals of open source, allowing free and unrestricted use, modification, and redistribution, with the simple requirement that if you provide the product as a service to others, you must also publicly release any modifications as well as the source code of your management layers under SSPL.

The Apache 2 license's patent grant, often misunderstood, makes open source safe to use. Image by :. Get the highlights in your inbox every week. Topics Licensing. About the author.

Jeffrey Robert Kaufman - Jeffrey R. Jeffrey holds multiple patents in RFID, barcoding, image More about me. Recommended reading What is open core? Avoid this common open source scanning error. Test cases and open source license enforcement.