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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

Hello 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:
OCA should veil for the open source part of Odoo (https://odoo-community.org/about). Encouraging to use LGPL only favors the closed source part of the ecosystem, as you can mount on top OCA LGPL modules any private module, so people will only provide to/improve OCA base tools, while keeping by themselves the finished business solutions as private. That's why if we relicense even these base tools to LGPL, the real value provided by OCA will go down, only getting base/tool modules that are not finished business solutions. That's why we should force people to play with the same open source rules. And the tool for that is AGPL. Imagine if my company Tecnativa would retain their RMA, HR shift, resource booking, etc complete apps as private because technically they don't depend on AGPL code, what would OCA be without them?

And this is not something that each individual should investigate, OCA should invest resources in assuring that there's no problem in this, and as this sometimes requires an initial jurisprudence case, to assure that if that case comes one day, OCA will provide the legal assistance. If none of these things happen, OCA would fail in its mission IMO.

Regards.

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--
Enric Tobella Alomar
CEO & Founder

by Enric Tobella Alomar - 01:30 - 8 Sep 2025

Reference

  • 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).


    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,
    --
    Vincent Hatakeyama
    Directeur du pôle développement " Orbeet
    Tel +33 1 83 62 72 88 Email vincent.hatakeyama@orbeet.io
    Adresse 27, boulevard Saint-Martin
    75003 Paris         		Site web https://orbeet.io
    Image bannière
    by "Vincent Hatakeyama" <vincent.hatakeyama@orbeet.io> - 10:36 - 8 Sep 2025