By cmcintosh on

I have a strange question, but I need to know if it is legal to take drupal and customize it for a client as a paid service and if so, where is the licensing or a link to the license that states it is so.

Thanks,
Chris

Comments

xmacinfo’s picture

xmacinfo
he/him
Primary language French
Location Canada
commented

Yes, but the issuing work must stay GPL.

For more information, see: http://drupal.org/licensing/faq

As for the "Drupal" trademark, it is protected under regular trademark laws.

/*_*/
http://www.xmacinfo.com

soupp’s picture

soupp commented

One correction though: code / items which are not directly derived / based on Drupal code and other drupal.org contributed modules (i.e. js, css, design, graphics) may have any other type of licensing.

So you should charge exactly for customization, services and custom programming but not for Drupal itself.

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darclex’s picture

darclex commented

like xmacinfo said but a lil' easier to bill the customer:

time spent
custom code

both as services

if you sell drupal or any module, core or contributed, as a product, you're in violation of GPL.

Arnold Leung’s picture

Arnold Leung commented

I think you can sell modules, core or contributed code. You just need to make the source available and allow the buyer to edit the code; and redistribute the code.

Thats how it is for Redhat Linux.

ziobudda’s picture

ziobudda commented

Not all true.

You need to give to the community the code only if you incluce GPL code into your modules, not if you use it for your modules. If I use a GPL module for my new-module I don't need to give it to the community. If I include some code from a GPL module into my new-module i MUST to give the code to the community.

if I use theme() function I don't need to give my module to the community.

M.

Freelancer Senior Drupal Developer -- http://www.ziobuddalabs.it

cmcintosh’s picture

cmcintosh commented

THanks for the great feed back guys. It really helps clear up some questions I had about drupal. I have a couple customers that drupal would do great for, but I was not confident on the licensing rules and regs.

Chris McIntosh
(812) 250-4103 | cmcintosh@wembassy.com

heine’s picture

heine commented

The advice given to you in this thread is largely incorrect. If you have a need for answers above the topics mentioned in http://drupal.org/licensing/faq, you should contact a specialized lawyer.

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cmcintosh’s picture

cmcintosh commented

9: Is it permitted for me to sell Drupal or a Drupal module or a Drupal theme?

Yes. However, you must distribute it under the GPL version 2 or later, so those you sell it to must be allowed to modify and redistribute it as well. See questions 6 and 7 above.

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Another case of rtfm. It is good to see that you can in fact sell it, but you must allow who you sell it to modify or redistribute(of course I dont see a client wanting to redistribute a customized installation of drupal). Thanks again and maybe this or a link to the faq should be stickied in this section.

Chris McIntosh
(812) 250-4103 | cmcintosh@wembassy.com