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ADR-0017: V2 is licensed GPL-3.0-only, owned by Singlbase Technologies Limited, with contributions under a CLA

  • Status: Accepted

  • Date: 2026-10-31

  • Decided by: the Product Owner

  • Issue: #86

Context

Apollo Download Manager couldn't be distributed or made public without a licence of its own (#86). The PO wants Apollo Download Manager open-sourced before its first release, so that it stays open and its CI minutes become free (#90), and wants it owned by the company.

  • Third-party components: everything Apollo Download Manager ships is under a permissive licence, or MPL-2.0 used unmodified (LICENSING.md, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md). OpenSSL 3.5 is under Apache-2.0, which GPL-3.0 accepts. With aria2 gone (ADR-0001), nothing constrains Apollo Download Manager's own choice.

  • Not verified: no legal review was done. The options were explained to the PO in plain words as the common understanding of each licence, not as legal advice.

Decision

  • Licence: the GNU General Public License, version 3 only (SPDX GPL-3.0-only). Anyone who distributes a changed Apollo Download Manager must publish its source under the same licence.

  • Copyright holder: Singlbase Technologies Limited. The notice reads Copyright (C) 2026 Singlbase Technologies Limited.

  • Version 3 only, not "or later": Singlbase, not the Free Software Foundation, decides whether a future GPL version applies.

  • Contributions from outside Singlbase come under a Contributor Licence Agreement with Singlbase (CLA.md, #90), so Singlbase keeps the right to offer Apollo Download Manager under other terms as well.

  • Where it is stated: LICENSE (the licence's full text), package.json and the workspace Cargo.toml (license), the packages' metadata, the installers (which install LICENSE), the app's About screen (the notice GPL-3.0's section 5(d) asks an interactive program to show), and the README.

Options considered

OptionForAgainst
A. MITThe most permissive and simplestAnyone may make a closed product from Apollo DM; no patent terms
B. Apache-2.0Permissive, with a patent grantAs MIT: Apollo DM could be closed by others
C. GPL-3.0Every distributed change stays open; patent termsCompanies that want closed products avoid it, so fewer may contribute
D. MPL-2.0Changes to Apollo DM's own files stay openApollo DM could be part of a closed product
E. GPL-3.0-or-laterThe FSF's recommendationHands the choice of future terms to the FSF
F. DCO instead of a CLALighter for contributorsSinglbase couldn't offer other terms once others' code is in

Consequences

  • Apollo Download Manager can be published, and distributed as free software, once #90's checks are done.

  • A distributed Apollo Download Manager must offer its source: the repository, once public, is that offer. Installers carry LICENSE, and the About screen says where the licence is.

  • Every library added later must be under a licence GPL-3.0 accepts; DEPENDENCIES.md's allowed list already holds only those.

  • Contributors sign the CLA before their first contribution is merged (CONTRIBUTING.md).

  • Closed source is no longer Apollo Download Manager's default: the README's "All rights reserved until then" is replaced.

Follow-up

  • #90: the CLA, the community files and the checks before publication.

  • A legal review of the CLA's wording before the first outside contribution is merged.