Skip to main content

The license, explained

Cobblr's platform is licensed under the Functional Source License, Version 1.1, ALv2 Future License, abbreviated FSL-1.1-ALv2. The full text ships in the repository as LICENSE.md. This page puts it in everyday terms. Where the two differ, the license text is what counts.

The FSL is a source-available license from a family of "delayed open source" licenses. The idea is short: you get almost all the freedoms of an open source license right away, with one commercial restriction that expires on a fixed schedule. After that, the code is fully open source.

What you can do​

The license grants you the right to use, copy, modify, create derivative works, publicly display, and redistribute the software for any Permitted Purpose. A Permitted Purpose is any purpose that is not a Competing Use (defined below). In practice that covers the things people actually do with Cobblr:

  • Self-host it. Run Cobblr on your own machine for yourself, your household, your team, or your company. Internal use and access is named in the license as a Permitted Purpose.
  • Modify it. Change the code, add modules, fix bugs, adapt it to your setup.
  • Redistribute it. Share copies or your modified version, as long as you keep the terms with it (see Redistribution).
  • Use it in your work. The license also names non-commercial education, non-commercial research, and professional services you provide to someone who is using Cobblr under these same terms.

There is no fee, no user cap, and no seat count. Commercial internal use is fine: a business running Cobblr to track its own inventory or machines is a Permitted Purpose.

The one restriction​

You may not put Cobblr to a Competing Use while a release is still inside its two-year window. The license defines a Competing Use as making the software available to others in a commercial product or service that does one of these:

  1. substitutes for Cobblr;
  2. substitutes for another product or service Cobblr offers that existed when the version was released; or
  3. offers the same or substantially similar functionality as Cobblr.

The short version: don't take Cobblr and sell it back to the world as a hosted service that competes with Cobblr. Running it for your own organization is not a Competing Use. Selling a hosted "Cobblr in the cloud" to other people would be.

The two-year conversion​

Every release carries its own clock. On the second anniversary of the date a version is made available, the license grants you an additional license to use that version under the Apache License, Version 2.0. From that date you may use that version under Apache 2.0 instead, which carries no Competing Use restriction. Apache 2.0 is an OSI-approved open source license: permissive, with an express patent grant, and with the usual conditions about keeping notices and marking changes.

This is why the abbreviation ends in -ALv2: it names the future license each release converts to. The grant is described in the license as irrevocable, so a release that has reached its second anniversary keeps that additional license.

The clock is per version, not per project. A release from two years ago is available under Apache 2.0 today; last month's release is under the FSL restriction until its own anniversary. Older versions keep converting on their own schedules as time passes.

Why not a plain open source license from day one​

A permissive license from day one would let anyone stand up a competing commercial Cobblr service, which would make it hard to keep funding the work. The FSL keeps that one door closed for two years per release, and leaves everything else open. Self-hosting, modifying, and building on Cobblr are unaffected. If you are not running a competing commercial service, the FSL feels the same to you as a permissive license.

If you redistribute​

The terms travel with the code. If you hand out copies, modifications, or derivatives of Cobblr, you have to include a copy of (or a link to) the license and keep the existing copyright notices in place. This is the same obligation most permissive licenses carry.

Warranty​

Cobblr is provided as is, with no warranty, the same disclaimer most open source licenses use. Read the LICENSE.md file for the exact wording.

Reading the source​

If you contribute code, the Contributing page covers the sign-off and how patches land. Nothing on this page changes that. The license question for a contributor is settled by the DCO sign-off described there.