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Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Hi,
After years of only working on Odoo community, we are starting to have several enterprise clients.
The OCA website at https://odoo-community.org/resources/faq indicates:
Can I run OCA AGPL modules and closed source modules on the same instance?
Yes, as long as closed source modules do not depend on AGPL ones and respect the license of its dependencies defined in the “depends” key of its manifest file (and vice versa).
Odoo SA, indicated in 2015 https://www.odoo.com/fr_FR/blog/actualites-dodoo-5/adapting-our-open-source-license-245
Will we be able to use AGPL modules and paid ones?
Odoo projects will be able to use AGPL modules or paid modules under proprietary licenses, but it is not possible to combine both. Combining LGLPv3 modules and proprietary modules is fine however, so we encourage current owners licensing under AGPL to move to LGPLv3 too, in order to avoid complications for end users.
My CEO believes that this using both AGPL and proprietary modules, even if they do not have dependencies, is not allowed by the AGPL license.
I’ve searched a bit on the mailing list (that started in 2015) but I have not found no discussion on the subject.
On what basis does the OCA position comes from?
Regards,
--
|
by "Vincent Hatakeyama" <vincent.hatakeyama@orbeet.io> - 10:36 - 8 Sep 2025
Follow-Ups
-
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
One last thing. IMO, throw away any ideas of dual licensing. That is the worst of all the discussion here. For 1 OCA, cannot do it imo, but for 2, Bradley Kuhn has spent the last 10 years chastising the relicense industry and how it is leading free software licensing to even more restrictive copyleft just to protect themselves from these unscrupulous actors hiding behind CLAs to defy authors wishes. And it is hard to disagree with him on this.Le dim. 14 sept. 2025, 09:05, Graeme Gellatly <graeme@moahub.nz> a écrit :Sorry on that point. Of course, whatever the original author decides. There is only 3 realistic choices anyway.For me it is nearly always AGPL. I was not advocating OCA relicense to AGPL by any stretch, just encouraging its use and not to throw it away over some vendor FUD.Le dim. 14 sept. 2025, 08:37, Joël Grand-Guillaume <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :Dear community,I strongly agree with Maxine here. The OCA accept any OSI compliant licences and since the begining it has always left the choice to the contributors among available ones.I invite you to read our FAQ under chapter licences & CLA: https://odoo-community.org/resources/faqIt explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.orgLooking forward to meeting you in person at the OCA days, a good place to discuss it if you feel the need for it.Best regards,JoëlLe sam. 13 sept. 2025, 22:21, Maxime Chambreuil <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :Hello,
Since everybody is giving its opinion, here is mine.
I think the license the contributor decides to put in the modules he is contributing to the OCA is his choice and should not be judged. We are a community, not a team or company. We don't necessarily share the same objectives and we don't necessarily aim for the same impact or result when contributing.
The only thing the OCA should do on this topic is educate so contributors make the right choice reflecting their values in complete awareness of the pros and cons. A page or blog post on the oca website comparing the different licenses, with pros and cons, with correct/incorrect legal/illegal behavior.
My 2 cents on the license. More to come on the contributions in the other thread later.
Cheers--Maxime ChambreuilDesde mi móvil
From: Raphaël Valyi <notifications@odoo-community.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 6:36:58 AM
To: Contributors <contributors@odoo-community.org>
Subject: Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same serverEventually we could create a simple OCA tutorial that would give an example use case where a company needs customizations that depend both on OCA AGPL and LGPL modules and need to protect some IP. We could give a few guidelines how to split the codebase between AGPL and LGPL derivatives.
Obviously there would always be a grey area where people would carefully craft glue modules to action OCA AGPL code without explicitly depending on it.
But eventually we could still cover the most obvious cases. This could help to:
- limit the FUD about AGPL- incentivate more actors to publish what should be published
Would it be risky for the OCA to publish such guidelines if a court finally interpret things differently? Should we officially cover the EE case as well?
Finally about AGPL enforcement in general: one thing is the AGPL be violated by some final users. Just like piracy in general, it's hard to avoid indeed.
But at least the AGPL should ideally protect us against massive violation by big SaaS players (because of the legal risks). Without such protection, a big actor (Odoo SA themselves?) would easily put all OCA modules authors out of business by creating superior private derivatives without any attribution, much like some open source editors complained GAFAM like companies created unfriendly forks of their products.
Notice however that if the OCA starts selling double license exceptions, we will not even be sure we could name and shame or even sue some company who is obviously extending an OCA module without publishing it back. So I think it would just incentivate piracy, not a net positive for me...
On Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 8:47 AM Frederik Kramer <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:
Hi Greame, there is amble debate on when an AGPL licenced software is actually made publicly available. To cases where it is pretty clear (to me and most people that i know do academic research on the matter): 1.) Your company is actually consisting of more then one legal entities collaborating on the same system (e.g. holding structure) 2.) If you use E-Commerce ar any means of direct user acces (like portal functions) 3.) If you let externals to your company access to the software (even with a VPN), e.g. freelancer use cases, suppliers, customers Furthermore as soon as you modify anything you implicitely agree to the license liabilities See https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/1hh25a0/agpl_for_software_hosted_internally/ for a little bit of debate on the matter Best Frederik Am 13.09.25 um 13:02 schrieb Graeme Gellatly: > > The simplest way is to just not accept the license and not propagate > the AGPL licensed work. As long as you are using it unmodified, there > is no requirement to accept. Clause 9 is quite clear. > Conveyance/propagation as a combined work is easily avoided. -- Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer Geschäftsführer initOS GmbH Innungsstraße 7 21244 Buchholz i.d.N. Tel: +49 (0) 4181 13503 12 Fax: +49 (0) 4181 13503 10 Mobil: +49 (0) 179 3901819 Email: frederik.kramer@initos.com Internet: www.initos.com Geschäftsführung: Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer & Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Francke Sitz der Gesellschaft: Buchholz i.d.N. Amtsgericht Tostedt, HRB 205226 USt-IdNr.: DE815580155 Steuer-Nr: 15/200/53247
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by Graeme Gellatly - 11:16 - 13 Sep 2025 -
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Sorry on that point. Of course, whatever the original author decides. There is only 3 realistic choices anyway.For me it is nearly always AGPL. I was not advocating OCA relicense to AGPL by any stretch, just encouraging its use and not to throw it away over some vendor FUD.Le dim. 14 sept. 2025, 08:37, Joël Grand-Guillaume <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :Dear community,I strongly agree with Maxine here. The OCA accept any OSI compliant licences and since the begining it has always left the choice to the contributors among available ones.I invite you to read our FAQ under chapter licences & CLA: https://odoo-community.org/resources/faqIt explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.orgLooking forward to meeting you in person at the OCA days, a good place to discuss it if you feel the need for it.Best regards,JoëlLe sam. 13 sept. 2025, 22:21, Maxime Chambreuil <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :Hello,
Since everybody is giving its opinion, here is mine.
I think the license the contributor decides to put in the modules he is contributing to the OCA is his choice and should not be judged. We are a community, not a team or company. We don't necessarily share the same objectives and we don't necessarily aim for the same impact or result when contributing.
The only thing the OCA should do on this topic is educate so contributors make the right choice reflecting their values in complete awareness of the pros and cons. A page or blog post on the oca website comparing the different licenses, with pros and cons, with correct/incorrect legal/illegal behavior.
My 2 cents on the license. More to come on the contributions in the other thread later.
Cheers--Maxime ChambreuilDesde mi móvil
From: Raphaël Valyi <notifications@odoo-community.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 6:36:58 AM
To: Contributors <contributors@odoo-community.org>
Subject: Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same serverEventually we could create a simple OCA tutorial that would give an example use case where a company needs customizations that depend both on OCA AGPL and LGPL modules and need to protect some IP. We could give a few guidelines how to split the codebase between AGPL and LGPL derivatives.
Obviously there would always be a grey area where people would carefully craft glue modules to action OCA AGPL code without explicitly depending on it.
But eventually we could still cover the most obvious cases. This could help to:
- limit the FUD about AGPL- incentivate more actors to publish what should be published
Would it be risky for the OCA to publish such guidelines if a court finally interpret things differently? Should we officially cover the EE case as well?
Finally about AGPL enforcement in general: one thing is the AGPL be violated by some final users. Just like piracy in general, it's hard to avoid indeed.
But at least the AGPL should ideally protect us against massive violation by big SaaS players (because of the legal risks). Without such protection, a big actor (Odoo SA themselves?) would easily put all OCA modules authors out of business by creating superior private derivatives without any attribution, much like some open source editors complained GAFAM like companies created unfriendly forks of their products.
Notice however that if the OCA starts selling double license exceptions, we will not even be sure we could name and shame or even sue some company who is obviously extending an OCA module without publishing it back. So I think it would just incentivate piracy, not a net positive for me...
On Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 8:47 AM Frederik Kramer <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:
Hi Greame, there is amble debate on when an AGPL licenced software is actually made publicly available. To cases where it is pretty clear (to me and most people that i know do academic research on the matter): 1.) Your company is actually consisting of more then one legal entities collaborating on the same system (e.g. holding structure) 2.) If you use E-Commerce ar any means of direct user acces (like portal functions) 3.) If you let externals to your company access to the software (even with a VPN), e.g. freelancer use cases, suppliers, customers Furthermore as soon as you modify anything you implicitely agree to the license liabilities See https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/1hh25a0/agpl_for_software_hosted_internally/ for a little bit of debate on the matter Best Frederik Am 13.09.25 um 13:02 schrieb Graeme Gellatly: > > The simplest way is to just not accept the license and not propagate > the AGPL licensed work. As long as you are using it unmodified, there > is no requirement to accept. Clause 9 is quite clear. > Conveyance/propagation as a combined work is easily avoided. -- Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer Geschäftsführer initOS GmbH Innungsstraße 7 21244 Buchholz i.d.N. Tel: +49 (0) 4181 13503 12 Fax: +49 (0) 4181 13503 10 Mobil: +49 (0) 179 3901819 Email: frederik.kramer@initos.com Internet: www.initos.com Geschäftsführung: Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer & Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Francke Sitz der Gesellschaft: Buchholz i.d.N. Amtsgericht Tostedt, HRB 205226 USt-IdNr.: DE815580155 Steuer-Nr: 15/200/53247
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by Graeme Gellatly - 11:06 - 13 Sep 2025 -
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
I have zero time for what academics think, honestly. As for reddit, omg. That whole thread was basically the 2009 Microsoft FUD parroted word for word with a bit of Oracle post Sun acquisition thrown in.Court cases and precedent are what matter. Public is a fairly precise definition in law and the MS interpretation just defies belief.I am 100% comfortable with where I sit, I know everybody disagrees with me here, and I am fine with it.Le sam. 13 sept. 2025, 23:47, Frederik Kramer <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :
Hi Greame, there is amble debate on when an AGPL licenced software is actually made publicly available. To cases where it is pretty clear (to me and most people that i know do academic research on the matter): 1.) Your company is actually consisting of more then one legal entities collaborating on the same system (e.g. holding structure) 2.) If you use E-Commerce ar any means of direct user acces (like portal functions) 3.) If you let externals to your company access to the software (even with a VPN), e.g. freelancer use cases, suppliers, customers Furthermore as soon as you modify anything you implicitely agree to the license liabilities See https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/1hh25a0/agpl_for_software_hosted_internally/ for a little bit of debate on the matter Best Frederik Am 13.09.25 um 13:02 schrieb Graeme Gellatly: > > The simplest way is to just not accept the license and not propagate > the AGPL licensed work. As long as you are using it unmodified, there > is no requirement to accept. Clause 9 is quite clear. > Conveyance/propagation as a combined work is easily avoided. -- Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer Geschäftsführer initOS GmbH Innungsstraße 7 21244 Buchholz i.d.N. Tel: +49 (0) 4181 13503 12 Fax: +49 (0) 4181 13503 10 Mobil: +49 (0) 179 3901819 Email: frederik.kramer@initos.com Internet: www.initos.com Geschäftsführung: Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer & Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Francke Sitz der Gesellschaft: Buchholz i.d.N. Amtsgericht Tostedt, HRB 205226 USt-IdNr.: DE815580155 Steuer-Nr: 15/200/53247
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by Graeme Gellatly - 11:01 - 13 Sep 2025 -
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Dear community,I strongly agree with Maxine here. The OCA accept any OSI compliant licences and since the begining it has always left the choice to the contributors among available ones.I invite you to read our FAQ under chapter licences & CLA: https://odoo-community.org/resources/faqIt explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.orgLooking forward to meeting you in person at the OCA days, a good place to discuss it if you feel the need for it.Best regards,JoëlLe sam. 13 sept. 2025, 22:21, Maxime Chambreuil <notifications@odoo-community.org> a écrit :Hello,
Since everybody is giving its opinion, here is mine.
I think the license the contributor decides to put in the modules he is contributing to the OCA is his choice and should not be judged. We are a community, not a team or company. We don't necessarily share the same objectives and we don't necessarily aim for the same impact or result when contributing.
The only thing the OCA should do on this topic is educate so contributors make the right choice reflecting their values in complete awareness of the pros and cons. A page or blog post on the oca website comparing the different licenses, with pros and cons, with correct/incorrect legal/illegal behavior.
My 2 cents on the license. More to come on the contributions in the other thread later.
Cheers--Maxime ChambreuilDesde mi móvil
From: Raphaël Valyi <notifications@odoo-community.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 6:36:58 AM
To: Contributors <contributors@odoo-community.org>
Subject: Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same serverEventually we could create a simple OCA tutorial that would give an example use case where a company needs customizations that depend both on OCA AGPL and LGPL modules and need to protect some IP. We could give a few guidelines how to split the codebase between AGPL and LGPL derivatives.
Obviously there would always be a grey area where people would carefully craft glue modules to action OCA AGPL code without explicitly depending on it.
But eventually we could still cover the most obvious cases. This could help to:
- limit the FUD about AGPL- incentivate more actors to publish what should be published
Would it be risky for the OCA to publish such guidelines if a court finally interpret things differently? Should we officially cover the EE case as well?
Finally about AGPL enforcement in general: one thing is the AGPL be violated by some final users. Just like piracy in general, it's hard to avoid indeed.
But at least the AGPL should ideally protect us against massive violation by big SaaS players (because of the legal risks). Without such protection, a big actor (Odoo SA themselves?) would easily put all OCA modules authors out of business by creating superior private derivatives without any attribution, much like some open source editors complained GAFAM like companies created unfriendly forks of their products.
Notice however that if the OCA starts selling double license exceptions, we will not even be sure we could name and shame or even sue some company who is obviously extending an OCA module without publishing it back. So I think it would just incentivate piracy, not a net positive for me...
On Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 8:47 AM Frederik Kramer <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:
Hi Greame, there is amble debate on when an AGPL licenced software is actually made publicly available. To cases where it is pretty clear (to me and most people that i know do academic research on the matter): 1.) Your company is actually consisting of more then one legal entities collaborating on the same system (e.g. holding structure) 2.) If you use E-Commerce ar any means of direct user acces (like portal functions) 3.) If you let externals to your company access to the software (even with a VPN), e.g. freelancer use cases, suppliers, customers Furthermore as soon as you modify anything you implicitely agree to the license liabilities See https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/1hh25a0/agpl_for_software_hosted_internally/ for a little bit of debate on the matter Best Frederik Am 13.09.25 um 13:02 schrieb Graeme Gellatly: > > The simplest way is to just not accept the license and not propagate > the AGPL licensed work. As long as you are using it unmodified, there > is no requirement to accept. Clause 9 is quite clear. > Conveyance/propagation as a combined work is easily avoided. -- Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer Geschäftsführer initOS GmbH Innungsstraße 7 21244 Buchholz i.d.N. Tel: +49 (0) 4181 13503 12 Fax: +49 (0) 4181 13503 10 Mobil: +49 (0) 179 3901819 Email: frederik.kramer@initos.com Internet: www.initos.com Geschäftsführung: Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer & Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Francke Sitz der Gesellschaft: Buchholz i.d.N. Amtsgericht Tostedt, HRB 205226 USt-IdNr.: DE815580155 Steuer-Nr: 15/200/53247
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by Joël Grand Guillaume - 10:36 - 13 Sep 2025 -
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Hello,
Since everybody is giving its opinion, here is mine.
I think the license the contributor decides to put in the modules he is contributing to the OCA is his choice and should not be judged. We are a community, not a team or company. We don't necessarily share the same objectives and we don't necessarily aim for the same impact or result when contributing.
The only thing the OCA should do on this topic is educate so contributors make the right choice reflecting their values in complete awareness of the pros and cons. A page or blog post on the oca website comparing the different licenses, with pros and cons, with correct/incorrect legal/illegal behavior.
My 2 cents on the license. More to come on the contributions in the other thread later.
Cheers--Maxime ChambreuilDesde mi móvil
From: Raphaël Valyi <notifications@odoo-community.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 6:36:58 AM
To: Contributors <contributors@odoo-community.org>
Subject: Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same serverEventually we could create a simple OCA tutorial that would give an example use case where a company needs customizations that depend both on OCA AGPL and LGPL modules and need to protect some IP. We could give a few guidelines how to split the codebase between AGPL and LGPL derivatives.
Obviously there would always be a grey area where people would carefully craft glue modules to action OCA AGPL code without explicitly depending on it.
But eventually we could still cover the most obvious cases. This could help to:
- limit the FUD about AGPL- incentivate more actors to publish what should be published
Would it be risky for the OCA to publish such guidelines if a court finally interpret things differently? Should we officially cover the EE case as well?
Finally about AGPL enforcement in general: one thing is the AGPL be violated by some final users. Just like piracy in general, it's hard to avoid indeed.
But at least the AGPL should ideally protect us against massive violation by big SaaS players (because of the legal risks). Without such protection, a big actor (Odoo SA themselves?) would easily put all OCA modules authors out of business by creating superior private derivatives without any attribution, much like some open source editors complained GAFAM like companies created unfriendly forks of their products.
Notice however that if the OCA starts selling double license exceptions, we will not even be sure we could name and shame or even sue some company who is obviously extending an OCA module without publishing it back. So I think it would just incentivate piracy, not a net positive for me...
On Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 8:47 AM Frederik Kramer <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:
Hi Greame, there is amble debate on when an AGPL licenced software is actually made publicly available. To cases where it is pretty clear (to me and most people that i know do academic research on the matter): 1.) Your company is actually consisting of more then one legal entities collaborating on the same system (e.g. holding structure) 2.) If you use E-Commerce ar any means of direct user acces (like portal functions) 3.) If you let externals to your company access to the software (even with a VPN), e.g. freelancer use cases, suppliers, customers Furthermore as soon as you modify anything you implicitely agree to the license liabilities See https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/1hh25a0/agpl_for_software_hosted_internally/ for a little bit of debate on the matter Best Frederik Am 13.09.25 um 13:02 schrieb Graeme Gellatly: > > The simplest way is to just not accept the license and not propagate > the AGPL licensed work. As long as you are using it unmodified, there > is no requirement to accept. Clause 9 is quite clear. > Conveyance/propagation as a combined work is easily avoided. -- Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer Geschäftsführer initOS GmbH Innungsstraße 7 21244 Buchholz i.d.N. Tel: +49 (0) 4181 13503 12 Fax: +49 (0) 4181 13503 10 Mobil: +49 (0) 179 3901819 Email: frederik.kramer@initos.com Internet: www.initos.com Geschäftsführung: Dr.-Ing. Frederik Kramer & Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Francke Sitz der Gesellschaft: Buchholz i.d.N. Amtsgericht Tostedt, HRB 205226 USt-IdNr.: DE815580155 Steuer-Nr: 15/200/53247
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by Maxime Chambreuil - 10:21 - 13 Sep 2025