If I programmed a GnuCOBOL application that I wish to license to customers, are there any runtime library files that must be included in my distribution media? Also, am I correct in assuming that I would owe no royalty money to anyone?
Thanks
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In general: there are no license fees to be paid for GnuCOBOL, it is free software.
You are even allowed to get a fee, for example for distributing it on CD-ROM / USB sticks.
If you want to distribute "your" binaries and GnuCOBOL runtime binaries, then ensure that either you make the source to your binaries available under a free license, too; or ensure that each binary is only linked against libraries that allow binary distribution (GnuCOBOL runtime libcob allows that, but BDB for example does not, so you'd have to get an extra license from Oracle for that; but if you use a non-bdb build then this would be no problem).
In my personal experience - speaking as a "technical user", not as a "lawyer" it is most easy to let the customer install a (minimal) GnuCOBOL version with the dependencies your application needs met (with/without ISAM, curses, xml, json, gettext, .... support) then either:
* distribute the COBOL source along with build scripts
* distribute binaries linked to the specific GnuCOBOL version the customer has (they only link against libcob and this is a "system library" on your customer's machine, so it doesn't matter what that links to)
Note that if your application is based on the GnuCOBOL compiler (= the application uses the compiler, for example an IDE) then you'd possibly have a "hard link" (even over a system call) to the compiler - and as this is GPLed you'd have to release your source under GPL, too. (not needed if you just use the runtime - libcob is LGPLed).
If you distribute GnuCOBOL binaries you should also ship its license and tell your customers that you use that. Upon request you'd then also need to ship the object files of your application, enabling users to relink it to a different version (not needed if you distribute the COBOL source, which could still be outside of a free license).
Note in any case: If you release your application under a free software license and provide the source then you can do nearly everything without any license fees yourself - and people could still pay support and development fees to you (but they could also use the software without it).
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
If I programmed a GnuCOBOL application that I wish to license to customers, are there any runtime library files that must be included in my distribution media? Also, am I correct in assuming that I would owe no royalty money to anyone?
Thanks
These are multiple questions. in one...
In general: there are no license fees to be paid for GnuCOBOL, it is free software.
You are even allowed to get a fee, for example for distributing it on CD-ROM / USB sticks.
If you want to distribute "your" binaries and GnuCOBOL runtime binaries, then ensure that either you make the source to your binaries available under a free license, too; or ensure that each binary is only linked against libraries that allow binary distribution (GnuCOBOL runtime libcob allows that, but BDB for example does not, so you'd have to get an extra license from Oracle for that; but if you use a non-bdb build then this would be no problem).
In my personal experience - speaking as a "technical user", not as a "lawyer" it is most easy to let the customer install a (minimal) GnuCOBOL version with the dependencies your application needs met (with/without ISAM, curses, xml, json, gettext, .... support) then either:
* distribute the COBOL source along with build scripts
* distribute binaries linked to the specific GnuCOBOL version the customer has (they only link against libcob and this is a "system library" on your customer's machine, so it doesn't matter what that links to)
Note that if your application is based on the GnuCOBOL compiler (= the application uses the compiler, for example an IDE) then you'd possibly have a "hard link" (even over a system call) to the compiler - and as this is GPLed you'd have to release your source under GPL, too. (not needed if you just use the runtime - libcob is LGPLed).
If you distribute GnuCOBOL binaries you should also ship its license and tell your customers that you use that. Upon request you'd then also need to ship the object files of your application, enabling users to relink it to a different version (not needed if you distribute the COBOL source, which could still be outside of a free license).
Note in any case: If you release your application under a free software license and provide the source then you can do nearly everything without any license fees yourself - and people could still pay support and development fees to you (but they could also use the software without it).