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iPhone SDK Trumps GPL: No Open Source Software

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 3:35 PM - by

The developer who signs the Registered iPhone Developer Agreement agrees to the conditions under which one can create iPhone native applications. The agreement conflicts with and overrides the GNU General Public License (GPL), according to Linux.com on Tuesday.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) published GPLv3 on the same day that Apple launched the iPhone, and since then developers has wondered about the restrictions placed on developers by Apple's agreement.

Nathan Willis didn't hear from Apple, but was able to interview FSF Licensing Compliance Officer Brett Smith who went into the licensing issues in depth and described the limitations under which the Apple developer is placed.

While one can decline to charge for iPhone applications developed within the Apple program, several issues prevent the source code from falling under the GPL. The first is that all iPhone apps will be signed with a cryptographic key. "This condition conflicts with section 6 of the GPLv3, the so-called anti-TiVoization provision. In particular, it prohibits Apple from distributing a GPLv3-licensed iPhone application without supplying the signing keys necessary to make modified versions of the application run, too," Mr. Willis noted.

A second problem is that the NDA an Apple developer signs trumps the developer's right to place a license of their choice on the software. "If you agree to an NDA that prohibits you from sharing your program's source, then you cannot release that program under the GPL, or incorporate any GPL-covered code in it," Mr. Smith said.

This is not to say that many in the Apple developer community aren't talking and don't understand the limitations placed on them. However, for those who want to get a good understanding of the situation, with open eyes, the analysis by Mr. Willis is an excellent place to start.

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Mikuro said:

member since 15 Jun 2002 with 457 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:35 pm

It seems to me like Apple's NDA was not made to prevent open-source software. It just doesn't seem like enforcing closed source would benefit Apple in any way, so I wouldn't be surprised if they change the wording soon. If they do, GPLv2 code would be portable (as far as I can tell). GPLv3 has not gained overwhelming traction in the open-source world yet, and many developers ardently support GPLv2 over v3.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:43 pm

So, what you're saying, albeit very disjointly, is that if you develop an app for the iPhone using the SDK, it isn't applicable to the GNU license? So, it's not free?

As a 24 year user of Macintosh, my next questions is "so what?" At least you know going in. Where in the world did ANYBODY get the idea that a company has to create something that must be free and given away? The whole problem with Open Source and free software is WHY? This country was built on capitalism. Not socialism. If you want to give it away, that's your right, but don't expect others to follow suit if they don't want to. Apple makes SOME of their software Open Source, but they retain the IMPORTANT part as a copyrighted, marketable portion of their business. Because they are a business.

It's how they have so many $billions in the bank. And no debt.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:45 am

Tiger wrote:
So, what you're saying, albeit very disjointly, is that if you develop an app for the iPhone using the SDK, it isn't applicable to the GNU license? So, it's not free?

As a 24 year user of Macintosh, my next questions is "so what?" At least you know going in. Where in the world did ANYBODY get the idea that a company has to create something that must be free and given away? The whole problem with Open Source and free software is WHY? This country was built on capitalism. Not socialism. If you want to give it away, that's your right, but don't expect others to follow suit if they don't want to. Apple makes SOME of their software Open Source, but they retain the IMPORTANT part as a copyrighted, marketable portion of their business. Because they are a business.

It's how they have so many $billions in the bank. And no debt.

Nice rant ... that completely missed the point.

The article states that you can run into legal problems if you use GPL'ed code (that _others_ have put under GPL) in _your_ iPhone applications, because using GPL'ed code means, that the parts of your program that use it are to be released under that same GPL. Since that would mean to enable everyone who wishes so to change the source code and re-release the software (again under GPL) there is a problem with the agreement between iPhone application developers and Apple. Currently it seems impossible to honour both, the iPhone SDK agreement and the GPL.

Meaning: in the current form of the agreement an iPhone application developer has to accept, it seems she or he cannot legally use GPL'ed code, since it seems impossible to fullfil the terms.

If you are a developer you might know that there is an awful lot of code out there that is GPL'ed. And some people make a lot of money in businesses based on GPL'ed software.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:02 pm

If Open Source software was really impossible to release on the iPhone how come it has WebKit and the Darwin kernel and all the other good stuff? What I'd really like to know is how other Open Source licenses are affected.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:01 pm

Guest wrote:
If Open Source software was really impossible to release on the iPhone how come it has WebKit and the Darwin kernel and all the other good stuff? What I'd really like to know is how other Open Source licenses are affected.

Apple is not bound by the terms of the SDK NDA that they make you agree to -- they can release as much or as little of the source code to WebKit that they want. The trouble is in the NDA, which third-party developers sign, and in the code-signing process for third-party iPhone apps (where, again, Apple is not bound to enforce the same rules on itself that they enforce on outside parties).

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