BeagleBoard sotfware license

Hi
I have a question about the licensing of the applications that I develop for the beaglebone, since it is open sw/hw, should the applications that I develop on it also be open source?

Kind regards

Hi @fredy.gutierrez i see you double posted here:

The short and quick answer. No, your application does not have to be open source.

However, there are two topics to think about. The open source nature of the design of the hardware and the License of ‘each’ individual Debian application (if using Debian).

If your application is a customized BeagleBone Black, you’d need to just make sure you follow the Board’s design license rules.

If your application is a software customization, this answer would depend specifically on what software libraries you utilize. If you want to make sure you don’t have to release you application, just make sure to use X11/MIT or similar licensed packages.

Otherwise, with the nature of open source licensing, anything you develop and ‘release’ to your ‘end user’ has to align with the license you used, so your ‘end user’ can also utilize the same resources you used.

Regards,

Hi @RobertCNelson,

Thanks for your response and sorry for my double reposted, the reason is because in my previous post I received a faster response in digikey forum than the beagleboard forum.

Thanks to your answer and a very good answer in the beaglebone forum, I can say that my software should not have any complications with the licensing section since it is not a modification, but a development from scratch, but from what you tell me I must be sure to use X11/MIT licensed packages (or similar) to avoid complications.

I really appreciate your answer.

Kind regards
Fredy Gutierrez

2 Likes