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Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server
Once again, as proposed above, I would suggest to have licenses based on module nature:
- Core modules, eg widgets, api's, helpers - LGPL. Why? Because it helps to widespread them being used as core parts in various deployments, including close-sourced. Pros: it builds vendors dependency forcing those non-OCA vendors to contribute to the OCA (well, at least part of them).
- Business flow modules should stay AGPL for the very reasons mentioned by Pedro and Enric.
Bonus: we might consider selling a non-AGPL licenses to those, who would like to have some AGPL modules but cannot use them due to the license incompatibility. Pros: we can get money from that. Cons: there are a lot of them either, so this is something to be discussed separately. Anyway I would like to have this discussion opened.
Best regards,
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----- Original message -----
Date: Sep 8, 2025, 1:32:07 PM
From: Notifications
Subject: Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same serverHello everyone,You’re right that Odoo’s relicensing from AGPL to LGPL contributed to their ecosystem’s growth, but I think it’s important to recognize the context. The growth was not solely because of LGPL being “friendlier,” but also because Odoo SA introduced a dual licensing model: they offered parts of the code under a proprietary license and could directly capture revenue from that. This created a business incentive that supported their expansion.
In the OCA’s case, the situation is different:
- If we moved from AGPL to LGPL, there would be no equivalent proprietary licensing model.
- The benefits would mostly go to implementors who could build proprietary modules on top of LGPL community work.
- The OCA itself would not receive revenue, nor would it strengthen the community commons — it would only dilute protections for contributors.
Also, the OCA can have legal issue because there are contributors that didn't sign the SLA, as happened with vertical-medical 8 years ago (https://github.com/OCA/vertical-medical/issues/183)That’s why, for us, the decision isn’t only about adoption, but about ensuring contributors’ rights and the long-term sustainability of shared resources.
I agree with you that clearer legal guidance and better communication to customers are necessary, and we should keep pushing for that. But from my perspective, simply shifting to LGPL without a mechanism to capture value (like Odoo SA did) risks weakening the community without strengthening OCA in return. For that reason, I would prefer to leave the decision of the license on each individual when adding a new module.
Best regards,El lun, 8 sept 2025 a las 13:11, Pedro M. Baeza (<notifications@odoo-community.org>) escribió:--Enric Tobella AlomarCEO & Founder_______________________________________________
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by "Ivan Sokolov via Cetmix OÜ" <team@cetmix.com> - 01:56 - 8 Sep 2025
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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-245Will 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,--
Vincent Hatakeyama Directeur du pôle développement " Orbeet 
+33 1 83 62 72 88 
vincent.hatakeyama@orbeet.io 
27, boulevard Saint-Martin
75003 Paris
https://orbeet.io
by "Vincent Hatakeyama" <vincent.hatakeyama@orbeet.io> - 10:36 - 8 Sep 2025