The Aladdin Free Public License, abbreviated AFPL, is a license written by
L. Peter Deutsch
L Peter Deutsch (born Laurence Peter Deutsch on August 7, 1946, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American computer scientist and composer. He is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript and PDF int ...
for his
Ghostscript PostScript
PostScript (PS) is a page description language and dynamically typed, stack-based programming language. It is most commonly used in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm, but as a Turing complete programming language, it c ...
language interpreter.
History
The license was derived from the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...
, but differs on two key points:
* The
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
must be included with any software distribution.
* The software may not be sold, including any fees involved with distribution.
Deutsch chose to include a commercial restriction in the AFPL based on his observation of people including Ghostscript in commercial products without full license compliance. Recent versions of Ghostscript are not licensed under the AFPL.
Despite the name, the
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985. The organisation supports the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
does not consider the AFPL a
free software license,
neither the OSI consider it an
open-source license
Open-source licenses are software licenses that allow content to be used, modified, and shared. They facilitate free and open-source software (FOSS) development. Intellectual property (IP) laws restrict the modification and sharing of creative ...
, nor does it fall under the
Copyfree Standard definition.
Copyfree Standard Definition
/ref> The AFPL can be considered a source-available license.
See also
* Dual-licensing
References
External links
Aladdin Free Public License
(might serve as a useful substitute)
Copyleft software licenses
2000 introductions
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