As an open source movement, it is important that Open3.org protects your freedom to use, distribute and contribute to Open3.org projects in a way that benefits you and the open source community. To that end, all projects under the auspices of Open3.org are released under a dual combination licensing scheme of the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the Open3.org Public License (OPL). The reasons for dual combination licensing are made clear below.

We like the terms of the GNU General Public License for many reasons. It is fairly simple and covers almost all issues we thought were important in the licensing of Open3.org projects. It is in line with the Open Source Definition. It is also widely accepted in the open source community.

There are some issues specific to what Open3.org is doing that are not covered by the GPL. Specifically, we feel that the success of our middleware initiative is, in large part, based on the multiplicity and availability of Open3.org Adapters. Adapters are modules that allow the Open3 XML Middleware Server to communicate with applications such as databases, CRM packages, etc.

To that end, we ask that developers who create an Open3 Adapter -- an adapter that links with the Open3.org Adapter API or developed with the Open3.org Adapter Development Kit (ADK) -- release the Adapter back to the open source community or keep it proprietary. If it is kept proprietary, it must not be sold commercially.

The Open3.org Public License (OPL) appears below:

Open3.org License Agreement

The Open3.org License Agreement uses the combination of two licenses for source code. The two licenses are the GNU General Public License (GPL) plus the Open3.org Public License (OPL). GPL licensing provides for open and free access to the source code. OPL licensing retains the same open source spirit as GPL. OPL has been added to the GPL license to clarify possible ambiguities to the GPL license for Open3.org projects. In any case where there are discrepancies between the two licenses, the OPL license is overriding. We have used dual licensing for open3.org to promote the spirit of open source software and to clearly detail the license terms.

Open3.org License Agreement = GPL + OPL

Open3.org Public License (OPL)

The OPL license has been designed to promote the free and open spirit of open source. There has been much concern over which modifications and extensions to GPL open source software must remain under GPL licensing. We've provided the OPL license to resolve any ambiguities that may arise from stand-alone GPL licensing.

1. Software that is built upon Open3.org Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which is independent and separate from the source code covered under the Open3.org License Agreement, may be licensed by the software author(s) under their own terms. The exception to this term is for "adapters" as described in number 2.

2. An "adapter" is software that connects through the Open3.org Adapter API to an external and separate software application. Any adapter that links statically or dynamically to the Open3.org Adapter API must either be:

A. Released under the Open3.org License Agreement as open source software (in the spirit of open source, we encourage this!).

-or-

B. Maintained as closed source that may be distributed freely but may not be sold commercially. For the sake of software quality and unity, only adapters written against the Open3.org Adapter API may be referred to as an "Open3.org adapter".

3. Open3.org may publish revised versions of the Open3.org Public License, which will be analogous in spirit to the current version but will address new concerns that may arise.

GNU General Public License (GPL)

Please see the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html