Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | page.title=Licenses |
| 2 | @jd:body |
| 3 | |
| 4 | <!-- |
Clay Murphy | 768b82a | 2013-11-12 11:32:41 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 5 | Copyright 2013 The Android Open Source Project |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 6 | |
| 7 | Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); |
| 8 | you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. |
| 9 | You may obtain a copy of the License at |
| 10 | |
| 11 | http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software |
| 14 | distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, |
| 15 | WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. |
| 16 | See the License for the specific language governing permissions and |
| 17 | limitations under the License. |
| 18 | --> |
| 19 | <div id="qv-wrapper"> |
| 20 | <div id="qv"> |
| 21 | <h2>In this document</h2> |
| 22 | <ol id="auto-toc"> |
| 23 | </ol> |
| 24 | </div> |
| 25 | </div> |
| 26 | |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 27 | <p>The Android Open Source Project uses a few |
| 28 | <a href="http://www.opensource.org/">open source initiative</a> |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 29 | approved open source licenses for our software.</p> |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 30 | <h2 id="android-open-source-project-license">Android Open Source Project License</h2> |
| 31 | <p>The preferred license for the Android Open Source Project is the |
| 32 | <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache |
| 33 | Software License, Version 2.0</a> ("Apache 2.0"), |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 34 | and the majority of the Android software is licensed |
| 35 | with Apache 2.0. While the project will strive to adhere to the preferred |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 36 | license, there may be exceptions that will be handled on a case-by-case |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 37 | basis. For example, the Linux kernel patches are under the GPLv2 license with |
| 38 | system exceptions, which can be found on <a href="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/COPYING">kernel.org</a>.</p> |
| 39 | <h2 id="contributor-license-grants">Contributor License Grants</h2> |
| 40 | <p>All <em>individual</em> contributors (that is, contributors making contributions |
| 41 | only on their own behalf) of ideas, code, or documentation to the Android Open |
| 42 | Source Project will be required to complete, sign, and submit an <a href="cla-individual.html">Individual |
| 43 | Contributor License Grant</a>. The grant can be executed online through the |
| 44 | <a href="https://android-review.googlesource.com/#/settings/agreements">code review tool</a>. |
| 45 | The grant clearly defines the terms under which intellectual |
| 46 | property has been contributed to the Android Open Source Project. This license |
| 47 | is for your protection as a contributor as well as the protection of the |
| 48 | project; it does not change your rights to use your own contributions for any |
| 49 | other purpose.</p> |
| 50 | <p>For a <em>corporation</em> (or other entity) that has assigned employees to |
| 51 | work on the Android Open Source Project, a <a href="cla-corporate.pdf">Corporate |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 52 | Contributor License Grant</a> is available. |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 53 | This version of the grant allows a |
| 54 | corporation to authorize contributions submitted by its designated employees |
| 55 | and to grant copyright and patent licenses. Note that a Corporate Contributor |
| 56 | License Grant does not remove the need for any developer to sign their own |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 57 | Individual Contributor License Grant as an individual. The individual grant is needed |
| 58 | to cover any of their contributions that are <em>not</em> owned by the corporation signing the |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 59 | Corporate Contributor License Grant.</p> |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 60 | <p>Please note we based our grants on the ones the |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | <a href="http://www.apache.org">Apache Software Foundation</a> uses, which can |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | be found on the <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/">Apache web site</a>.</p> |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | <h2 id="why-apache-software-license">Why Apache Software License?</h2> |
| 64 | <p>We are sometimes asked why Apache Software License 2.0 is the preferred |
| 65 | license for Android. For userspace (that is, non-kernel) software, we do in |
| 66 | fact prefer ASL2.0 (and similar licenses like BSD, MIT, etc.) over other |
| 67 | licenses such as LGPL.</p> |
| 68 | <p>Android is about freedom and choice. The purpose of Android is promote |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 69 | openness in the mobile world, and we don't believe it's possible to predict or |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 70 | dictate all the uses to which people will want to put our software. So, while |
| 71 | we encourage everyone to make devices that are open and modifiable, we don't |
| 72 | believe it is our place to force them to do so. Using LGPL libraries would |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 73 | often force them to do just that.</p> |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 74 | <p>Here are some of our specific concerns:</p> |
| 75 | <ul> |
| 76 | <li> |
| 77 | <p>LGPL (in simplified terms) requires either: shipping of source to the |
| 78 | application; a written offer for source; or linking the LGPL-ed library |
| 79 | dynamically and allowing users to manually upgrade or replace the library. |
| 80 | Since Android software is typically shipped in the form of a static system |
| 81 | image, complying with these requirements ends up restricting OEMs' designs. |
| 82 | (For instance, it's difficult for a user to replace a library on read-only |
| 83 | flash storage.)</p> |
| 84 | </li> |
| 85 | <li> |
| 86 | <p>LGPL requires allowance of customer modification and reverse |
| 87 | engineering for debugging those modifications. Most device makers do |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 88 | not want to have to be bound by these terms. So to minimize the burden on |
| 89 | these companies, we minimize usage of LGPL software in userspace.</li></p> |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 90 | </li> |
| 91 | <li> |
| 92 | <p>Historically, LGPL libraries have been the source of a large number |
| 93 | of compliance problems for downstream device makers and application |
| 94 | developers. Educating engineers on these issues is difficult and slow-going, |
| 95 | unfortunately. It's critical to Android's success that it be as easy as |
| 96 | possible for device makers to comply with the licenses. Given the |
| 97 | difficulties with complying with LGPL in the past, it is most prudent to |
| 98 | simply not use LGPL libraries if we can avoid it.</p> |
| 99 | </li> |
| 100 | </ul> |
| 101 | <p>The issues discussed above are our reasons for preferring ASL2.0 for |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 102 | our own code. They aren't criticisms of LGPL or other licenses. We are |
| 103 | passionate about this topic, even to the point where we've gone out of our |
| 104 | way to make sure as much code as possible is ASL2.0 licensed. However, we love all free |
Robert Ly | 35f2fda | 2013-01-29 16:27:05 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 105 | and open source licenses, and respect others' opinions and preferences. We've |
Clay Murphy | 5d29409 | 2013-07-15 15:11:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 106 | simply decided ASL2.0 is the right license for our goals.</p> |