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About the Reloaded License

For commercial applications requiring a custom licence, please contact admin@sewer56.dev (GitHub).

This project and most Reloaded projects are governed by the GPLv3 licence.

This is a FAQ meant to clarify the licensing choice and its implications.

Please note, though, that the full licence text is the final legal authority.

Why was GPL v3 chosen?

The primary objective is to prevent closed-source, commercial exploitation of the project.

We want to ensure that the project isn't used within a proprietary environment for profit-making purposes such as:

  • Being sold behind a Patreon paywall.
  • Being integrated into a closed-source commercial product for sale.

The Reloaded Project is a labour of love from unpaid hobbyist volunteers.

(At the time of writing, mostly one guy in a 3x3.5m room, who spent 1000s of hours holed up, running the project at a financial loss).

Exploiting that work for profit feels fundamentally unfair.

While the GPLv3 licence doesn't prohibit commercial use outright, it does prevent commercial exploitation by requiring that contributions are given back to the open-source community.

In that fashion, everyone can benefit from the projects under the Reloaded label.

Can I use Reloaded Libraries Commercially?

You can as long as the resulting produce is also licenced under GPLv3, and thus open source.

Can I use Reloaded Libraries in a closed-source application?

The licence terms do not permit this.

However, if your software is completely non-commercial, meaning it's neither sold for profit, funded in development, nor hidden behind a paywall (like Patreon), we will probably just look the other way.

This often applies to non-professional programmers, learners, or those with no intent to exploit the project. We believe in understanding and leniency for those who might not know better.

GPL v3 exists to protect the project and its contributors. If you're not exploiting the project for commercial gain, you're not hurting us; and we will not enforce the terms of the GPL.

If you are interested in obtaining a commercial licence, or want an explicit written exemption, please get in touch with the repository owners.

GPL obligations apply only to recipients of your software

Internal development doesn't require publishing sources to the outside world.

Yes, as long as you adhere to the GPLv3 licence terms, you're permitted to statically link Reloaded Libraries into your project through various linking approaches.

Attribution (Optional)

While not legally required under GPL v3, attribution is greatly appreciated.

Attribution helps recognise contributor efforts and supports the open-source community:

  • Mention your project uses Reloaded libraries (in readme, credits, or documentation)
  • Link back to the Reloaded Project when possible

Thank you for your support! 👉👈

Code from MIT/BSD Licenced Projects

We respect permissive licences and clearly mark any code incorporated from MIT/BSD projects.

When code from permissively licenced projects is used, we disclose it appropriately:

  • Methods/snippets: Marked with language-specific attributes or annotations
  • Files/modules: Original licence included at the top of the file
  • Libraries: Acknowledged in readme or licence documentation

Code marked with attribution annotations may be used under its original licence terms.