Just read an article that made my heart jump a bit. Here is the quote that set me off:
Any app released to the public using the Corona SDK, automatically inherits the same GNUA GPLv3 open-source license it’s created on. This means the developer is required to have the source code of their app also open sourced, and available for public use.1
Is this quote accurate?
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1https://appdevelopermagazine.com/corona-labs-goes-open-source-and-developers-are-nervous/
I see it discussed here: https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/75739-the-corona-dual-license/
Can someone from CoronaLabs/Appodeal confirm that if we are using the Corona SDK system only to test/compile our own code (and that we’re not downloading/building Corona itself) that we and our apps are not bound by the GNUA GPLv3 open-source license?
Thanks!
Ah, so that’s why they don’t bother with new public builds anymore! Using the daily builds get you round this problem according to that article.
The point of copyleft licensing is basically that nobody owns the product. If you take something that’s copylefted, you can do what you like with it, but your changes have to be released under that same copyleft license. I.e. you can’t take a copylefted software, swap the logo out, and rerelease it as your own software copyrighted to you because then you’d be able to sue competitors for copying “your work” when in reality those competitors have taken the same copylefted product that you did.
When Corona went open source, they copylefted the source using GNU GPL. Therefore if you take the Corona source and make changes, those changes have to remain copylefted.
By using the product to create your apps though, your creation isn’t an extension to this copylefted product and therefore doesn’t need to be licensed under the GPL. It’s basically the same as using GNU Gimp to create an image and then adding that image to your game. Gimp is copylefted and you’ve used it to create an image, but your image isn’t a part of Gimp. It doesn’t need to be copylefted, it’s just an image.
This has nothing to do with public builds. The public builds or daily builds are under a commercial license. You agree to it when you install the simulator/Corona Native. There is ZERO GPLv3 involved if you download Corona from our website.
Where GPLv3 comes into play is if you fork the open source version of Corona from our GitHub repository. When you do that, you can either a. modify the forked source under the GPLv3 license or b. acquire a negotiated commercial license.
Again, this only comes into play if you fork our source and make changes to it. You can download the pre-compiled version of Corona from our website and build whatever you want with it. You can use it with your own code to make apps that you can give away or sell, monetize with ads, in-app purchases, or straight up sales. You can do so free of charge. You only need to pay for add-on features like the Splash Screen control or purchases from the Marketplace.
We acknowledge that we need to produce a public build but it has no bearing on how Corona is licensed.
Rob
I’d try and get that article fixed, then.
I seriously doubt they would go back and fix a year old article, but it is incorrect.
Rob
Thanks, Rob! (and Nick and Richard).
I felt that I understood what the article was saying, but essentially needed it to be made clear by someone from Corona/Appo, and you definitely helped.
Have a GREAT weekend, all!