Source code license for closed (non-open-source) software components

Question

This is a question about licensing 3rd-party software components, which are to be included/used in your own software.

When you license a software component from a component vendor, many vendors will also allow you to get the source code (for an extra fee).

I'm talking about a not-for-resale and not-for-redistribution source code license, which developers sometimes want (perhaps on the theory that they can then support the component themselves if the vendor ever doesn't).

If you're a buyer:

• Do you buy the source code license too?
• Do you always, or does it depend on something, e.g. depend on how big the vendor is?
• If a vendor doesn't license the source code, or if the license is expensive, is there any alternative to licensing the source code that you'd find acceptable: do you ever purchase a binaries-only license, and if so under what conditions?

If you're a vendor:

• Do you offer source code to people who ask for it?
• Does it depend on the buyer in any way?
• If you don't, even to people who ask for it, then why not?
• If you do, how do you choose a price (what's the biggest factor: is it just trying to maximise revenue, or is it any other motive e.g. pricing it high to try to minimise risk)

Also:

• Do you happen to know of any standard/reusable license for such source code (which specifies e.g. "not for redistribution" etc).

I'm especially interested in your experience with "3rd party" components: from vendors smaller than Microsoft et al.

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This question might seem like a 'poll', and subjective; but I'm trying to gather the business reasons for licensing or for not licensing source code, to understand the situations in which it's appropriate or not appropriate, and to hear of any alternatives or compromises.

Answer 1

I would assume most software developers accept components without source code (at least if they are not developing on Linux):

• Compilers
• DBMSs
• Application and Web servers

Answer 2

In embedded systems it is common for libraries such as RTOS, protocol stacks, and file-systems for example to have soure-code license options. In this domain this is useful since target adaptation is often required beyond that facilitated by the object code license. Apart form that, I have used RTOS libraries both with and without source-code, and often debugging is much easier when you have the source, even when the component is not at fault - if only to better understand the often complex interaction with your application code.

As a vendor an alternative often used is an escrow agreement where the source is registered and held by a third-party escrow service for release to licensees should the vendor cease to trade or support the original code. This approach is used when the code embodies commercially sensitive intellectual property that may affect the value and competitiveness of the rights owner, but while equally the loss of support may affect the user's business viability.

Answer 3

My employer at least once negotiated a source code escrow contract. This means the source code goes into an escrow agent's safe, and my employer can use it when the other company does not deliver updates fast enough.

For a license where the customer gets proprietary source code, look MFC's license. IMHO you can get the source code, modify it, and ship binary versions of the modified MFC library to your customers.

Answer 4

Back when we were developing in Delphi, we wouldn't even consider buying a third-party library without source code. That's because the .dcu file format (basically the object code that you link against) changed with every version of Delphi, and there was no upgrade utility; you just had to recompile.

So if we didn't have source code, then whenever a new version of the compiler came out, we wouldn't be able to upgrade until every single vendor released a new version of the .dcu files. That's untenable. Non-source distributions of Delphi libraries simply aren't workable; you need the source so you can recompile it yourself.

Answer 5

Around here, we will ask about a source code license, but it's by no means the most important part of our decision to buy.

I've worked in a couple of small businesses that sold software for a major revenue stream. One sold software to deal with a lot of things in doctors' offices, and I don't think anybody ever asked about the source. One sold big-buck software to electrical utilities, and we supplied the source freely to our customers. (One issue there is that utilities are stable companies, usually with deep pockets, and easy to enforce license terms on by suing if absolutely necessary. Many doctors' offices can fold up fairly easily, and enforcing license terms can be a problem.)