Reciprocal Public License
Encyclopedia
The Reciprocal Public License (RPL) is a software license inspired by the GNU General Public License
(GPL) but authored to explicitly remove what some have referred to as the GPL's "privacy loophole"—an aspect of the GPL which allows recipients of GPL'd code to:
The "R" in RPL stands for "Reciprocal" specifically to call out that this license requires software developers and companies to reciprocate for the benefits they derive from RPL'd software by releasing any extensions or improvements they make regardless of whether those changes deploy internally or to third parties.
Because of its "viral
" nature, the RPL is often found in dual-licensing models in which it is paired with more traditional closed-source licenses. This strategy allows software companies who use this model to present customers with a "pay with cash or pay with code" option, ensuring either the growth of the software directly through code contributions or indirectly through cash which can be used to fund further development.
The RPL was written to conform to the requirements of the Open Source Initiative
to ensure that it met the goals for an Open Source license, however because of its requirements for reciprocation the RPL holds the unique distinction of being the only software license both approved by the Open Source Initiative
and explicitly called out as non-free for matters of substance by the Free Software Foundation
(the FSF considers the Artistic License
too vague to be definitively free).
The RPL was authored in 2001 by Scott Shattuck, a software architect for Technical Pursuit Inc. for use with that company's TIBET(tm) product line. The latest version of the RPL is version 1.5 published on July 15, 2007.
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
(GPL) but authored to explicitly remove what some have referred to as the GPL's "privacy loophole"—an aspect of the GPL which allows recipients of GPL'd code to:
- make changes to source code which are never released to the open source community (by virtue of not deploying "to a third party"), and
- to derive financial or other business benefit from that action, violating what some might consider a simple concept of "fairness".
The "R" in RPL stands for "Reciprocal" specifically to call out that this license requires software developers and companies to reciprocate for the benefits they derive from RPL'd software by releasing any extensions or improvements they make regardless of whether those changes deploy internally or to third parties.
Because of its "viral
Viral license
Viral license is a pejorative term used to describe a copyright license that allows derivative works only when licensed identically to the original. Licenses of this form include several common open source licenses, such as the GNU General Public License and the Creative Commons ShareAlike licenses...
" nature, the RPL is often found in dual-licensing models in which it is paired with more traditional closed-source licenses. This strategy allows software companies who use this model to present customers with a "pay with cash or pay with code" option, ensuring either the growth of the software directly through code contributions or indirectly through cash which can be used to fund further development.
The RPL was written to conform to the requirements of the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
to ensure that it met the goals for an Open Source license, however because of its requirements for reciprocation the RPL holds the unique distinction of being the only software license both approved by the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
and explicitly called out as non-free for matters of substance by the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
(the FSF considers the Artistic License
Artistic License
The Artistic License refers most commonly to the original Artistic License , a software license used for certain free and open source software packages, most notably the standard Perl implementation and most CPAN modules, which are dual-licensed under the Artistic License and the GNU General Public...
too vague to be definitively free).
The RPL was authored in 2001 by Scott Shattuck, a software architect for Technical Pursuit Inc. for use with that company's TIBET(tm) product line. The latest version of the RPL is version 1.5 published on July 15, 2007.
Open software that uses the RPL
- Active AgendaActive AgendaActive Agenda is an open source risk management tool.Active Agenda is designed to support operational risk management in organizations and is optimized for high reliability organizations. It is a browser-based multi-user enabled software...
, an operational risk management web application and rapid application development framework.
External links
- The Free Software Foundation's list of non-free licenses that are often mistaken for free licenses
- The Reciprocal Public License 1.5 hosted by the Open Source Initiative
- The Reciprocal Public License 1.3 hosted by Technical Pursuit Inc.
- The Reciprocal Public License 1.1 hosted by the Open Source Initiative