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We want to distribute our (commercial closed-source) software as a virtual appliance.
Our preferred OS is Linux.
We do not want to violate the GPL, and we do not want to open source our own IP at this time.
Can we legally do this?
Or, do we need to use a an OS with a more permissive license (like BSD)?
(PS: I understand that I will need to ultimately seek the advice of a good lawyer.)
EDIT: Thanks to everyone for the comments.
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Software under the GPL may be run for all purposes, including commercial purposes and even as a tool for creating proprietary software, such as when using GPL-licensed compilers. Users or companies who distribute GPL-licensed works (e.g. software), may charge a fee for copies or give them free of charge.
The Linux Kernel is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only (GPL-2.0), as provided in LICENSES/preferred/GPL-2.0, with an explicit syscall exception described in LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note, as described in the COPYING file.
No. The GPL says that your modified versions must carry all the freedoms stated in the GPL. Thus, anyone who receives a copy of your version from you has the right to redistribute copies (modified or not) of that version. You may not distribute any version of the work on a more restrictive basis.
To comply with the GPL, you must engineer your process with a good approach, toolbox and policies. Sometimes this means scanning source code and automating compliance work with tools like FOSSA.
The Linux kernel has a special version of the GPL that specifically allows this:
NOTE! This copyright does not cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does not fall under the heading of "derived work".
But yes, you should ask a lawyer :-).
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Just the fact that your application is running on top of a GPL'd kernel in no way affects the licensing of your software. It really depends on what your software actually "links" to (for whatever definition "links" means for whatever language your software is written in).
Does your software link to the GPL kernel? Or any other GPL software?
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