Duetto — our C++ compiler for the Web — is getting close to its first public release, due in a few days, and we would like to spend a few lines to present and explain our licensing model, as many people have been asking recently.
When we started working on duetto around a year ago, we knew that we were going to release it as a FOSS project. We believe that duetto, by enabling truly seamless client/server C++ programming, can become a corner-stone of Web applications and games development. But this can only happen if an ecosystem of libraries, extensions and frameworks will be built around duetto itself. We know that the only way for this to happen is to make the core of our technology available to everyone, for free. In addition to that, since duetto is heavily based on the LLVM/clang framework and could not have existed otherwise, we really feel that giving back to the community is the most fair thing to do.
At the same time, we have also always been determined to build a company around this project. For this reason, we will be offering a premium package that includes the same core FOSS technology plus personalized support, proprietary friendly licensing and auxiliary perks including, but not limited to, integration with development environments.
Let’s now talk licenses. The duetto compiler itself is derived from LLVM and clang, both released under the University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License. We are releasing our duetto compiler under the same license, both to make it easier for the community to contribute with code, to contribute back with some of our code to LLVM and clang, and because it does not make much sense to use a dual licensing scheme on a compiler.
In addition to the compiler, there are a bunch of headers and libraries which are essentials to develop using duetto. All those will be released under a classic dual licensing scheme: GPLv2 for everyone and a proprietary non-copyleft license for paying customers.
To summarize, here is how duetto licensing will work:
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duetto core compiler: University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License (like the LLVM and clang projects)
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duetto core libraries/headers: dual license GPLv2; proprietary non-copyleft license available for a fee
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duetto premium features: proprietary and closed source, available for a fee
We think this choice represents a good balance between being open and giving back to the open source community, and building a viable business model. We hope the open source community will appreciate our choice!
Follow us on twitter @leaningtech and visit our website http://www.leaningtech.com to get updates on our upcoming release and for further information.