[Qgis-user] QGIS Licensing in Production Development

[Greg Troxel]

Mustafa Cayci via QGIS-User <qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org> writes:

> Dear QGIS Team,

(I keep seeing 'Team' in email salutations, and it's always odd.   I
don't know if it is a non-native speaker language nuance, or a lack of
understanding of how Free Software communities work.)

> I am planning to build a commercial solution for my customers that uses
> QGIS together with an object detection model (YOLO). The idea is to:
>
> Use QGIS as the main GIS platform / interface,
> Integrate or call a YOLO-based object detection workflow (e.g., as a
> plugin, script, or external service),
> Package this as a solution that I sell to my customers (either as a service
> or as software they install).

You need an attorney versed in open source licensing, and a business
consultant who understands the landscape.   Your description is all over
the place and it sounds like you don't understand.

You've already gotten some good advice, including a comment that I'll
second that it is rude to ask the Free Software community for zero-cost
help with your business.

> QGIS is licensed under the GPL. Under what conditions may I bundle QGIS
> with my own code and distribute it as part of a commercial offering?
> If I write a QGIS plugin that uses YOLO (for example, a Python plugin
> calling external inference code or a remote API), does this plugin also
> need to be GPL-licensed, or can it be under a different license?

Generally, plugins are considered a derived work under copyright law
because they use the QGIS APIs.  Thus, it is improper to distribute them
under a license other than GPL2.

> Am I allowed to charge customers for installation, customization, training,
> and ongoing support of a QGIS-based solution that includes my own
> YOLO-based object detection tools?

There are no prohibitions against charging for your time to help people
in the GPL.  But don't take my word for it.  Read it yourself, very
carefully, and go over it with your attorney.

That is usually considered the honorable approach to making money in a
Free Software context.