[consulting] Selling Modules

[Jeremy Andrews]

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:30:54 -0700
"Boris Mann" <boris at bryght.com> wrote:

> If you make a module, it must be GPL (IANAL, YMMV...that's
> my current understanding). The GPL is "triggered" if you
> distribute (give/copy/leave the bounds of your
> organization) that code, then anyone can request the
> "source" code. (Source in quotes because of PHP's natural
> source).

It is only if you distribute a module (ie sell it, give it
away, whatever) that the license becomes important.  If you
write the module for your own website (be it an intranet
site, Internet site, or even an ASP) and you choose to not
distribute the module, the license is unimportant.  The
source code for your module does not have to be made
available simply because you are using the GPL'd Drupal.

It is only when you elect to distribute your Drupal module
that the license becomes important, and then it only has to
be GPL compatible.  It does not have to specifically be
released under the GPL v2 like Drupal core is.  Well known
and many lesser known GPL compatible licenses are listed here:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses

If you choose to host your module on drupal.org, however,
then your module must be released under the GPL.  This is
not in any way a requirement of the GPL, but instead is a
requirement of the Drupal contrib source code repository.
Actually, a GPL license is automatically added to your
project when you upload your module to the drupal.org contrib
repository.

I'm not a lawyer and this is not advice.

-Jeremy