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Ice GPL and iPhone App Store

I'm currently helping some people with developing an application for the App Store. I want to use Ice because the App will communicate with a server somewhere else and Ice would free us up from handling network code.

I've talked with the other developers and they would be fine with using a GPL license and to my current knowledge, the App would be free.

But I know the App Store has problems with GPL'd programs (as evidenced by the recent VLC App being removed at the request of one of the VLC developers). I'm a firm believer in the open source model and I wish to respect any GPL'd code. Is there anyway to use Ice under a GPL license and develop an App for the iPhone or does that require a commercial license?

Comments

  • marc
    marc Florida
    I'm afraid there is currently no way to distribute a GPL'd application in the App Store. This is very unfortunate, but out of our control. So if you would like to distribute an application that uses IceTouch through the App Store, you need a commercial license.

    Of course you can still use IceTouch under GPL for as long as you don't distribute your application through the App Store. However, I believe that Apple permits binary distribution only through the App Store, which means that you might not be able to distribute binaries at all. But please check with Apple on this--we really cannot give any legal advice regarding Apple's license agreements or terms of service.