Licensing FWD for open or closed source projects

The FWD Progress to Java conversion and runtime technology is offered under a dual license model. This means the technology can be used for either open source or closed source applications. If you wish to keep your converted application proprietary (i.e., closed source), the way you distribute/deploy it determines which type of license you will need.

FWD is an open source project released under the Affero GPL 3.0 license. This is the license that automatically applies if you simply download the FWD project and use it without explicitly requesting a different license. There is no license fee required for FWD with the Affero GPL 3.0 license. You can use this license as long as either of the following conditions apply to your situation:

  • you do not distribute/deploy your converted application outside of your organization (this limitation includes hosting over a network to users outside your organization, which is considered distribution); OR
  • you open source the converted code of your application and all resources needed to build it under the AGPL 3.0 license.

If you do not wish to open source your converted application code AND you need to distribute your application outside of your organization, you will need to acquire a non-AGPL license to do so. Such a license is available only from Golden Code Development Corporation, the copyright holder of the FWD technology. There is a one-time fee for this type of license. The license is perpetual.

An advantage of the dual license model is that, even if you know you eventually will need a non-AGPL license to deploy/distribute your converted application, you can download FWD and prove it meets your needs using the AGPL license first. The requirement for a non-AGPL license does not trigger until you distribute the result or host it over a network, outside your organization.

Whichever license you use, you retain all intellectual property rights to your application source code after conversion.

Disclaimer: Please note that this overview is only meant to convey a non-binding, high level understanding of the dual license model. For the actual, binding AGPL 3.0 license terms, please refer to the full AGPL 3.0 license text. For the terms of the non-AGPL license, please contact Golden Code Development. Please also refer to the FWD Licensing Wiki for more information.