changeset 201:680740eec157

review
author Sebastien Jodogne <s.jodogne@gmail.com>
date Tue, 12 Feb 2019 15:23:05 +0100
parents 3931f1a721dc
children 1e9cb6e1afb0
files Sphinx/source/faq/licensing.rst
diffstat 1 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-) [+]
line wrap: on
line diff
--- a/Sphinx/source/faq/licensing.rst	Tue Feb 12 14:00:43 2019 +0100
+++ b/Sphinx/source/faq/licensing.rst	Tue Feb 12 15:23:05 2019 +0100
@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@
 ----------
 
 The objectives of the Orthanc ecosystem is to share technical
-knowledge about :ref:`DICOM <dicom-guide>`, and to foster scientific
-collaborations in medical imaging by subscribing to the `open-science
-paradigm <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science>`__. To this end,
-Orthanc is provided as free and open-source software to the benefit of
-the worldwide community of medical imaging.
+knowledge about :ref:`DICOM <dicom-guide>`, to build a consistent
+platform for developing medical imaging software, and to foster
+scientific collaborations in medical imaging by subscribing to the
+`open-science paradigm
+<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science>`__. To this end, Orthanc
+is provided as free and open-source software to the benefit of the
+worldwide community of medical imaging.
 
 In order to support this objective of global knowledge sharing, the
 Orthanc project enforces reciprocity. If someone finds Orthanc useful
@@ -24,14 +26,14 @@
 knowledge base. This virtuous circle guarantees the fact that Orthanc
 will be developed in a sustainable way in the long-term, to the
 benefit of all stakeholders. Predatory behaviors should be prevented,
-while preserving the freedoms of the users of Orthanc, including for
+while preserving the freedoms of the users of Orthanc, including the
 commercial uses.
 
 According to this philosophy, the University Hospital of Liège decided
-to release the Orthanc ecosystem under the `GPL license
-<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License>`__
-in 2012. The GPL is a strong copyleft license that is recognized
-worldwide, and that is designed to enforce reciprocity.
+to release the Orthanc ecosystem under the `GPLv3+ license
+<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html>`__ in 2012. The GPL is
+a strong copyleft license that is recognized worldwide, and that is
+designed to enforce reciprocity.
 
 As Orthanc is lightweight and designed for Web applications and for
 sharing medical images over Internet, it has been quickly deployed on
@@ -41,16 +43,16 @@
 teleradiology platforms in developing countries). Unfortunately, the
 GPL does not protect from predatory commercial behaviors over cloud
 platforms because of the so-called "`ASP loophole
-<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_service_provider>`__", that
-does not enforce modified versions of a free and open-source software
-running on a server to be given back to the community.
+<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Affero_General_Public_License>`__",
+that does not enforce modified versions of a free and open-source
+software running on a server to be given back to the community.
 
 For this reason, the plugins that provide scalability-related or
 cloud-related features (for instance the :ref:`PostgreSQL
-<postgresql>` and :ref:`Web viewer <postgresql>` plugins that are
+<postgresql>` and :ref:`Web viewer <webviewer>` plugins that are
 necessary for Web applications distributed at a large scale) were
-released under the stronger `AGPL licence
-<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Affero_General_Public_License>`__.
+released under the stronger `AGPLv3+ licence
+<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.en.html>`__.
 This license protects the community of medical imaging by ensuring
 that the features included in Orthanc instances running in remote
 servers are publicly available as well.
@@ -69,10 +71,11 @@
 prevented ("No"), or restricted ("Dual licensing"):
 
 +-----------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|                                                     | Mode of distribution of the caller system or of the third-party plugin/script              |
+|                                                     | Mode of distribution of the third-party system, or of the third-party plugin/script        |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
-| Usage of the Orthanc ecosystem (callee)             | Permissive    | GPLv3 | AGPLv3 | Internal use | Proprietary software   | Proprietary cloud |
-|                                                     | (MIT, BSD...) |       |        |              | distributed to clients | platform          |
+| Usage of the Orthanc ecosystem                      | Permissive    | GPLv3 | AGPLv3 | Internal use | Proprietary software   | Proprietary cloud |
+|                                                     | (MIT, BSD,    |       |        |              | distributed to clients | platform          |
+|                                                     | Apache2...)   |       |        |              |                        |                   |
 +=====================================================+===============+=======+========+==============+========================+===================+
 | Using Orthanc as such, even if some AGPL-licensed   | N/A           | N/A   | N/A    | Yes          | Yes                    | Yes               |
 | plugin is installed                                 |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
@@ -89,24 +92,53 @@
 | is hosted by an Orthanc server where some           |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
 | AGPL-licensed plugin is installed                   |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
-| Reusing code from the Orthanc code (GPL) or from    | No            | Yes   | Yes    | Yes          | Dual licensing         | Yes               |
-| an official Orthanc plugin that is released under   |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
-| the GPL license                                     |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
+| Modifying the Orthanc GPL-licensed code, or the     | No            | Yes   | Yes    | Yes          | Dual licensing         | Yes               |
+| code of an official GPL-licensed Orthanc plugin,    |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
+| or reusing such code in another project             |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
-| Reusing code from an Orthanc plugin that licensed   | No            | No    | Yes    | Yes          | Dual licensing         | Dual licensing    |
-| under the AGPL license                              |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
+| Modifying the code of an official AGPL-licensed     | No            | No    | Yes    | Yes          | Dual licensing         | Dual licensing    |
+| Orthanc plugin, or reusing such code in another     |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
+| project                                             |               |       |        |              |                        |                   |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
 | Using the :ref:`Stone of Orthanc <stone>` library   | No            | No    | Yes    | Yes          | Dual licensing         | Dual licensing    |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
 
-If your use case falls in some "**Dual licensing**" cell, please get
-in touch with `Osimis <http://osimis.io/>`__, the official commercial
-partner of the Orthanc project that is the only entity able to sell a
-`license exception
-<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions>`__ to your company.
+**Notes:**
+
+* The wording "third-party system" is very broad, as it encompasses
+  many possibilities. It can for instance be a Web application, a
+  heavyweight desktop application, an automated script, or more
+  generally any system that uses Orthanc as a service in its global
+  architecture.
+
+* If your use case falls in a "**Dual licensing**" cell, please get
+  in touch with `Osimis <http://osimis.io/>`__, the official
+  commercial partner of the Orthanc project that is the only entity
+  entitled to grant a `license exception
+  <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions>`__ to your
+  company.
+
+* If you reuse code from Orthanc or one of its associated plugins, you
+  must mention the copyright of the Orthanc project.
 
-Also, if you are dealing with medical applications in Europe, note
-that Osimis sells **CE-approved** versions of a Web viewer plugin.
+* An Orthanc plugin cannot be licensed under a permissive license
+  (MIT, BSD, Apache2...) because it must interface with the Orthanc
+  SDK that is licensed under GPLv3. Check out the `license
+  compatibility matrix on Wikipedia
+  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_compatibility#Compatibility_of_FOSS_licenses>`__.
+
+* If you deal with medical applications in Europe, note that Osimis
+  sells **CE-approved** versions of a Web viewer plugin.
+
+* You are kindly invited to cite the `reference paper about Orthanc
+  <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10278-018-0082-y>`__
+  in your scientific work.
+
+* This is our own technical interpretation of the GPLv3+ and AGPLv3+
+  in the very specific context of Orthanc. It is not intended to be a
+  complete guide to copyleft licensing. Please get in touch with the
+  `Free Software Foundation <https://www.fsf.org/>`__ for more legal
+  information.
 
 
 .. _cla: