Is it possible to use JFreeChart in a commercial application? I should probably be asking this in a forum that discusses the LGPL but I figured you might know since you _did_ make the choice to stick with LGPL instead of GPL.
Thanks
S
Commercial Use
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Eduardo Ramalho
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David Gilbert
Re: Commercial Use
Yes, it is possible to use JFreeChart in a proprietary application. I chose the LGPL rather than the GPL so that this is permitted...
Regards,
Dave Gilbert
Regards,
Dave Gilbert
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Shahbaz
Re: Commercial Use
Dave,
Thanks for the response. The link Eduardo provided states:
The GNU Lesser General Public Licence allows you to include JFreeChart in a commercial application. Note that the licence requires you to make the complete source code for JFreeChart available to users of your application, including any modifications that you make to JFreeChart.
I'm assuming as long as I make my modifications to JFreeChart (LGPL) available to those who obtain a proprietary project, that'll work. Is this a valid assumption or must I make it publicly available (even to people who're not interested in my product) for that to work?
Keep in mind that I firmly believe in giving back to the community and so will almost certainly send my changes back to you for merging (unless you've already implemented them in newer releases)
Thanks for the response. The link Eduardo provided states:
The GNU Lesser General Public Licence allows you to include JFreeChart in a commercial application. Note that the licence requires you to make the complete source code for JFreeChart available to users of your application, including any modifications that you make to JFreeChart.
I'm assuming as long as I make my modifications to JFreeChart (LGPL) available to those who obtain a proprietary project, that'll work. Is this a valid assumption or must I make it publicly available (even to people who're not interested in my product) for that to work?
Keep in mind that I firmly believe in giving back to the community and so will almost certainly send my changes back to you for merging (unless you've already implemented them in newer releases)
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David Gilbert
Re: Commercial Use
Yes. You are under no obligation to make your changes publicly available. You only have to make changes available if/when you *distribute* JFreeChart in some form, and then only to the people that you distribute to (that is, the users of your application). You are not *required* to give the changes to anyone else. I think that point is sometimes misunderstood with the GNU licences.
Of course, there are good reasons for trying to get your changes merged into the main JFreeChart source tree. Maintenance is easier, the code will be reviewed, tested, and (often) enhanced by others. Plus others will be grateful to you for sharing your work. But always remember that feeding your changes back to the project is *optional*.
Regards,
Dave Gilbert
Of course, there are good reasons for trying to get your changes merged into the main JFreeChart source tree. Maintenance is easier, the code will be reviewed, tested, and (often) enhanced by others. Plus others will be grateful to you for sharing your work. But always remember that feeding your changes back to the project is *optional*.
Regards,
Dave Gilbert