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I want to write an application released as GPLv3 (will be written in .NET), and I'm writing it so others can write extensions as DLL libraries. I'm assuming these will also have to be released as GPLv3, and this is as intended.
One of the libraries I want the application to ship with on the first release will be a library that interfaces to a 3rd party application. The 3rd party application provides a free (as in beer) .NET library with API which is really a communication driver to communicate with their 3rd party application.
My question - is this OK? I'm assuming it is, otherwise I couldn't write code based on .NET and release it as GPLv3 since .NET is really a collection of libraries with APIs. Am I making sense?
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@eMAD parts of it can, yes. For example if it has GPLed JavaScript, then the source code for that must be available.
GNU General Public License (GPL) is among the most popular open source licenses.
The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them.
GPL requires you to release the modified source code only if you release the modified program. If you've modified a program's source code for personal use, there's no need to release its source code. However, if you make the modified program available to the public, you will have to make the code public too.
Keep in mind that this is a question you should be asking IP lawyers, not software developers. All we can give is our best guess.
My advice would be to read the license that comes with the API in question and, if you have any further questions, contact the API publisher directly. Guessing, even collective guessing, is a bad framework to build software on.
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