The folks who are enthusiastic on this topic are talking at http://groups.drupal.org/legal. I suggest continuing the conversation there, as this list is focused on development. On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Cameron Eagans <cweagans@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Drupalistas!
This question has come up a couple of times in our local Drupal user group meetings, but the answer that was given didn't sound quite right to me:
If I code a module for Drupal, does it -have- to be GPL? That is, is a module considered a 'derivative work' of Drupal? Or is a module considered it's own entity from an intellectual property standpoint (that is, can I use something like http://www.raizlabs.com/software/phpobfuscator/ to obfuscate my source code and sell my module without licensing it as GPL?)
Because a module executes as a part of Drupal, must it be GPL?
Taking that further, can we apply the same question to things like the Linux kernel? Is a kernel module required to be GPL? Can I sell a proprietary kernel extension?
Thanks, Cameron Eagans