Libre Software or “Free Software” licenses grant users permission to use, study, modify, and share software. The GNU General Public License reflects these principles by ensuring that derivative works remain open and equally accessible.

Today, Railgun Labs is announcing a significant shift in our licensing strategy: we are moving toward Free Software licenses for our software libraries. Prior to today, we experimented with Free Software licenses, but had not fully committed.

Why We’re Doing This

Free Software is about more than just code. It promotes transparency and user freedom. By offering our software under a Free Software license, we empower individuals and organizations to use our tools without restriction. At the same time, our commercial license provides the legal and operational flexibility that many businesses require to integrate our software into their proprietary systems.

What Is Dual-Licensing?

Dual-licensing means that our software libraries will be available under two distinct licenses:

• Free Software License (GPL): Ideal for individual developers, researchers, and non-profits who want the freedom to use, study, and share our software.
• Commercial License: Tailored for businesses that need legal or operational flexibility, without the copyleft requirements of the GPL.

By offering both options, we ensure that the core of our work remains accessible and free, while providing a clear and sustainable path for our business.

Limitations on Applications

While we’re committed to Free Software licenses for software libraries, this isn’t practical for software applications. This is because applications require mechanisms to ensure legitimate ownership and so publishing the source code isn’t feasible. We will, however, continue to reevaluate our licensing strategy as time progresses.

What’s Next

As of today, Judo and Charisma are published under the GNU General Public License version 3. For organizations that require more flexible terms we will continue to offer commercial licenses as part of a dual-licensing model. In the coming months, expect more announcements as we transition additional products to the dual-licensing model.