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Currently we're starting to work on a project for which we're going to need image processing libraries. The problem is some of the libraries are GPL licensed.

I'm reading through GPL licence and quite a lot of other ones (FreeImage public licence etc..) and I'm a bit confused of all the long text. So I'll ask bluntly:

Is it possible to use a GPL licenced library in our commercial product (not modifying the code, just building the library and using it in our product (as a DLL)) without releasing the source code of our product?

mishan
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1 Answers1

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Don't distribute

The GPL is primarily about distribution of your software (what they call "conveyance"). If you only use your app and the GPL library in-house, the GPL does not consider this conveyance, and the copyleft provision is not triggered. You therefore don't need to make your program open-source.

Communicate at arms length

If your program does not depend on the GPL library or application for its proper functioning, and you communicate at arms length with it through spawning a separate process, pipes or something similar rather than linking the library in your application directly, then the GPL considers your program a separate application (instead of a derived work), and you don't need to make your program open-source.

Community
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Robert Harvey
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