Can i make my own ReactOS Fork then make it propietary?

[PersuasiveMedia]

does it break GNU GPL 2.0? AI say's you are not allowed to do it, but when i add a license in github it says Commercial use is allowed and Private use is allowed. I am new on understand FOSS Licenses but can i? If not i will make it open source anyway

[EmuandCo]

Of course you can use ReactOS in a private and commercial environment. None of the common open source license disallows to use the product anywhere.

But you can NOT just take the code (GPL, LGPL, BSD or whatever else license we have in our code in all the different parts) and relicense it for proprietray use and then even better, make it closed source.

You MUST provide the code to the public and still under the very same license it was coming from!

Ah and before I forget it... Removing the original author's code header with his name is nothing you should do, too. Not because it's not allowed, but because it's common sense to give credit to the one who wrote the code you can use for free right now. Same goes for trying to hide the origin of the code aka completely wipe any sign of the name ReactOS. Not really illegal, but no good basework to work together. ^^

[PersuasiveMedia]

Of course you can use ReactOS in a private and commercial environment. None of the common open source license disallows to use the product anywhere.

But you can NOT just take the code (GPL, LGPL, BSD or whatever else license we have in our code in all the different parts) and relicense it for proprietray use and then even better, make it closed source.

You MUST provide the code to the public and still under the very same license it was coming from!

Ah and before I forget it... Removing the original author's code header with his name is nothing you should do, too. Not because it's not allowed, but because it's common sense to give credit to the one who wrote the code you can use for free right now. Same goes for trying to hide the origin of the code aka completely wipe any sign of the name ReactOS. Not really illegal, but no good basework to work together. ^^

I think this is dumb. What about when my os ended support i would make it open source.. For example, in 2027 i will not able to update then make it open source back.

[EmuandCo]

Well, it is what it is... Free software is no toy the authors spend their limited free time on just that everyone can do with it whatever he wants. Everything in this world has rules. Same would apply if you have legal access to MS source code. You signed more than one NDA and other things that provide MANY rules you have to follow. And if you don't you have a bigger problem than you can imagine.

And the same applies here and this does not even just count here in our project. It's the same everywhere. As soon as you choose to use code licensed under any GPL or one of most other FOSS licenses, you are under some rules you have to follow. Some licenses have more rules and restrictions, some have less. This is someting you HAVE TO find out yourself anyways. I am no lawyer and will not provide pre-digested easy-to-understand legal advice here. This can cause problems for me, too. I just warned you that you will get into trouble if you simply do as you want to.

- No relicensing.
- No sudden closed source of any code that came from these projects.
- If you link your proprietary software with a GPL library and distribute it, the entire application must be licensed under the GPL, too btw.

... and there are more rules which apply to some licenses and do not in others. ROS has modules licensed under MANY different licenses, not just GPL varaiants btw. Go and check the license of the modules you want to use to be 100% sure that you follow the right licenses. Maybe you can even find a few code brackets under public domain. This one allows you to use the code for almost anything and with almost zero rules. But we have VERY limited code under this license.

Btw... If you decide to add other modules or apps into it which you made yourself and which are not linking in any GPLed code, you can keep the source closed of course.

And before you ask about that... Violating the license to see if anything bad happens can be a expensive experience. The Free Software foundation has lawyers at hand which successfully sued way bigger companies than you might have. They protect the license to keep it's teeth sharp that the license is something authors can count on.

[ThePhysicist]

I think this is dumb. What about when my os ended support i would make it open source.. For example, in 2027 i will not able to update then make it open source back.

You don't have an OS. We have an OS. We made it, and we set the rules.
If you want an OS with your rules, write your own.

[florian]

I think this is dumb. What about when my os ended support i would make it open source.. For example, in 2027 i will not able to update then make it open source back.

And I don't want to buy a car, but I'd love to take yours until one day I don't feel like paying its first maintenance costs - then you'll get it back. Free rider (or in terms of ReactOS a copycat) par excellence...

[Lyly19]

does it break GNU GPL 2.0? AI say's you are not allowed to do it, but when i add a license in github it says Commercial use is allowed and Private use is allowed. I am new on understand FOSS Licenses but can i? If not i will make it open source anyway

Sure, and while you're at it, maybe fork Linux too and sell it to Microsoft — what could go wrong with ignoring the GPL?

[manuel]

I don't know what you're trying to create, but what if I take the open source code from a project (e.g., Reactos), create my own project, and then, one day, maybe release it once I've fully realized the economic benefit?

That wouldn't be fair; it's profiting from something that's useful to everyone, not just you. To the extent that you can create an alternative project based on someone else's source code, perhaps create a closed-source project for your personal use, or at least not for commercial use (for example, on an intranet, for a very specific client, etc. I think it's possible there). But not to market it as your own and not give anything back to the community. "If one day I remember," maybe I'll release something. That's not allowed.