Skip to Content
  2. Mailing Lists
  3. Contributors
  4. Re: Licence question: using AGPL and Odoo proprietary modules on the same server

Archives

Contributors

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

Backbriefing, the key point I understood from the last two messages is:
Odoo Enterprise ecosystem is toxic, you shouldn't engage with it, and so the OCA should not care about it.

I understand there is frustration with Odoo's commercial practices and some of the things in the EE ecosystem, I also feel some of that.
Still, the part of the community that chooses to engage with Odoo Enterprise is as valid as the part that chooses not to.
Each of us is free to make our own decisions, and what works for me might not work for the person next to me.

Let's recognize that at Odoo, the EE is what funds the R&D put into the CE.
And even within the OCA, there is  A LOT of code there that is funded by EE customers.

Without the EE ecosystem the OCA would be significantly smaller and weaker.
The OCA should work for all, not for some factions only.

Stéphane made a good point on how AGPL actually might be limiting the reach of the OCA and potential new contributors.
It resonates with my personal experience of what people tell me as reasons to not engage with the OCA.
And I've found myself in cases were I couldn't use or collaborate with OCA because of the AGPL license, which feels like a waste to everyone.

I personally agree that favoring LGPL licenses would contribute better for the OCA's growth and health, and have no concerns in re-licencing code I authored. I had few of those requests already and was OK with them.

The dual-licensing idea also seems promising to me, so I would like to hear more opinions about it, if this is something the community agrees can be a good idea.

Thanks
Daniel


On 11/09/2025 19:02, Raphaël Valyi wrote:
Hello Stephane,

thanks for these explanations.

Well I feel there is a missing piece here: you kind of tell AGPL represents a legal risk when mixed with intellectual property and Odoo Enterprise.

But let's face it the proprietary Odoo Enterprise licence itself is probably a much larger legal risk: miss a month of license payment and all your wonderful customizations are suddenly illegal... The OCA may not be able to sue you, but eventually Odoo SA or whoever will buy it may do it...

Honestly much more of a legal risk than having so split customizations between LGPL and AGPL derivatives...

Also you told us about Odoo partners and how they use to violate the license.
Well let's face it: the Odoo partner network is now a giant market for lemon:
whose days are probably counted before the matket finally understand Odoo partners grade has no value at all or is eventually just a mark of scam. I even believe Odoo knows it perfectly and is rushing towards the SaaS for micro companies while this network is collapsing (double agenda).

Take a look at the comments on the Underscode Odoo video 10 days ago:

We all know Odoo had a good reputation on the French market (probably the most mature Odoo market along with Belgium) even just a few years ago. But let's face it, the scam is being noticed more and more and now that the serious partners have been kicked out, I think there is no way back. An ERP without a network is kind of doomed to be a SaaS product for trivial cases.

Seriously, Acsone and CampToCamp are now kind of the very last serious Odoo partners I can think about... So no sorry I see zero potential for open source collaboration inside this new network of Odoo noob partners. Here in Brazil, it seems if the guy can prove he never had a GitHub account, he could become a Silver or Gold partner directly...

So while I agree it's better to license framework modules or very simple commoditized modules as LGPL, I still think what do these noob disposable Odoo partners, how they violate licenses or fail projects should not guide our policy at the OCA. 

My 2 cents.

On Thu, Sep 11, 2025, 1:12 PM Stéphane Bidoul <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:
Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to say I have complete respect for authors to choose the Open Source license they prefer.

Yet, I am not convinced that using more LGPL would harm the OCA, let alone destroy it.

In general, using AGPL is a way to try and protect from proprietary derivative work.
I use it myself in some circumstances for that very reason.

I note, however, that for that to be effective one must be ready to act upon it (by suing or other actions).
In practice, there are plenty of license violations in the Odoo world (more on that below) that are never addressed.

Another very important aspect when building a community is attracting users, of which in turn a tiny percentage will lead to contribution. So, as any open source project which wants to grow, the first thing OCA needs is a massive amount of users.

It is interesting to examine what AGPL does from that angle.

One thing that is well known is that some enterprises completely ban GPL and AGPL out of fear of contamination to their intellectual property. So that repels a first pool of users and potential contributors.

Another aspect that is specific to Odoo, is that some long time open source experts like the OP worry about actual compatibility within Odoo Enterprise deployments.

Third, it is a fact that a vast majority of Odoo integrators commit license violations by making code that depends both on Odoo Enterprise and AGPL code.
Many by lack of knowledge. Some (a minority hopefully) just don't care. But the vast majority of code bases from other partners I have looked at that use Odoo Enterprise have such incompatibilities.
Genuine question: how many of you using OCA and Odoo Enterprise use 'manifestoo check-licence' in your CI pipelines? If you don't, try it, (bad) surprises are almost guaranteed.
And that does not even count grey areas where manually created server actions or Odoo Studio code combine fields or logic from AGPL modules with OE stuff.

So in effect, what happens is that AGPL is creating trouble for integrators who use OCA and Odoo Enterprise AND care about licenses.
Arguably those contribute a lot, but also constitute a big, partially untapped, pool of potential new contributors. 
And also importantly they are a source of potential funders via the partnership/sponsorship programme we are trying to build.

One could say that AGPL incompatibilities would force such integrators to use more OCA alternatives. Sometimes, yes, maybe.
But in other cases, it has the opposite effect, and such integrators develop proprietary workarounds and therefore contribute less to existing OCA AGPL modules.

So yeah, as much as I would love to live in a world where everything is open source, I am pragmatic, and I reckon that a big part of the Odoo market, and therefore existing or potential OCA participants, is involved with Odoo Enterprise one way or another. And I believe that there is more to win by being welcoming to those rather than making life more difficult for them.

So it is definitely not black and white, and there is a balance between protection and attractiveness. 
But for these reasons, yes, I do believe that all in all, doing less AGPL would actually be beneficial to OCA.

Best regards,

-Stéphane

On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM Ronald Portier <notifications@odoo-community.org> wrote:

I think the people complaining about the AGPL making it difficult to make private, closed source, modules, do not understand or accept a thing about free software.


Of course if companies do not mind paying extravagant license fees, for software where they have no insight in the code, let alone study or modify the code, where they will become dependent on the suppliers of their software, where if they ever want to migrate or export data, they have to beg their present suppliers for access, by all means let them go for the Apple/Microsoft way.


The whole idea of AGPL is to build a community of suppliers, users, even end-users, sharing development, making life easier (and more affordable) for everyone, and where there is no support or possibility of hidden back-doors, vendor lock-in etc.


If the OCA where to go for default LGPL or dual licensing, it would be the end of the OCA, as an organization that stands for free and open software.


Kind regards, Ronald


On 08-09-2025 15:32, Pedro M. Baeza wrote:
Raphaël, indeed both points are correct, but referring to the first one, let me point that sending the message from OCA board members that the "good" license to choose is LGPL will make people that are not informed/don't think on the consequences/don't care to go to that one, destroying great part of the current OCA ecosystem value. I would only do the exception on the website one that touches frontend templates, for being able to protect your customer in case of website custom theme.

Ivan, please read my previous reasoning why base/tool modules shouldn't be LGPL, because if so, the modules of the second type will start to disappear.

Regards.

_______________________________________________
Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

_______________________________________________
Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe


--
DANIEL REIS
MANAGING PARTNER

>> Schedule time on my calendar.
M: +351 919 991 307
E: dreis@OpenSourceIntegrators.com
A: Avenida da República 3000, Estoril Office Center, 2649-517 Cascais

[Logo OpenSourceIntegrators.com]


by Daniel Reis - 02:20 - 12 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

    52 replies 52 replies

    • 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/faq

      It explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.org

      Looking 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,

      Joël 





      Le 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 Chambreuil
      Desde 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 server
       
      Eventually 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

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      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/faq

      It explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.org

      Looking 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,

      Joël 





      Le 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 Chambreuil
      Desde 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 server
       
      Eventually 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

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      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

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      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/faq

      It explains what's needed. If you feel there is something not clear enough or missing, please write your proposal to: support AT odoo-community.org

      Looking 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,

      Joël 





      Le 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 Chambreuil
      Desde 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 server
       
      Eventually 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

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      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 Chambreuil
      Desde 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 server
       
      Eventually 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

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      _______________________________________________
      Mailing-List: https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15
      Post to: mailto:contributors@odoo-community.org
      Unsubscribe: https://odoo-community.org/groups?unsubscribe

      by Maxime Chambreuil - 10:21 - 13 Sep 2025