An interpreter for the postscript tm language and the adobe portable document format pdf sometimes confused with acrobat, adobes pdf browsereditor product a set of c procedures the ghostscript library that. It works along with different programs as a raster image processor for printers. The vast majority of all ghostscript development is done by artifex engineers, and on rare occasions, bug fixes accepted from outside contributors under license by artifex. It is a project from artifex for handling postscript, pdfs, and printers gnu ghostscript is a separate version of the project, and is not. Ghostscript is a commandlinetool, if you need a graphical interface install gsview.
Ghostscript wpkg open source software deployment and. Ghostscript software free download ghostscript top 4. What is the difference between gpl, agpl and lgpl licenses. An open source version is available under the gpl license. The case involves a piece of software licensed under the gpl version 3 or later, called ghostscript. Artifex later stopped using the aladdin license, and switched to releasing each version of ghostscript under the gpl without delay, having concluded that the free rider problem was no longer commercially significant and that straightforward use of the gpl alone would. Ghostscript is an interpreter for the postscript tm language. Ghostscript is computer software that interprets pdf and the postscript language. Does commercial use of ghostscript as saas needs a licence. Gpl ghostscript is the basis for display ghostscript, which adds display postscript functionality support. Gpl, also known as copyleft, grants permission to reuse or modify the source code to make derivative works, but if you distribute your program to others, it requires you to license your derivative work under the gpl too. The software, referred to as ghostscript, was duallicensed under the gpl license and a commercial license.
Versions entitled gpl ghostscript are distributed with the gnu general public license, which allows free use, and. Ghostscript is a package of software that provides. Open source licensing basics unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully controlled by artifex. In february 20, ghostscript changed its license from gplv3 to gnu agpl in version 9. But its called commercial because, i guess, atrifex makes money on it, definitely not because that is only way for you to use ghostscript. Further muddying the waters is the fact that there are both gpl and agpl plus commercially licensed releases of ghostscript that you or a. Motion to dismiss denied in recent gnu gpl case free. Licensing ghostscript in a commercial product software.
The ghostscript manual may be freely copied and redistributed in printed or digital form if no payment is involved. I can just go to artifex and get the latest version under that license. To use ghostscript for free, hancom would have to adhere to its. It was released under the gnu general public license. An interpreter for the postscript tm language and the adobe portable document format pdf sometimes confused with acrobat, adobes pdf browsereditor product a set of c procedures the ghostscript library that implement the graphics and filtering data compression. Ghostscript is a set of essential tools for those people.
This was the home page for ghostscript, an interpreter for the postscript language and for pdf, and related software and documentation. As for ghostscript at the moment artifex offers it under. Ghostscript is the current commercial proprietary version licensed by artifex software for inclusion in closedsource products. Gnu ghostscript is part of the gnu project and is now derived from gpl ghostscript. Download the latest version of ghostscript for windows. Versions entitled gpl ghostscript are distributed with the gnu affero general public license, which allows.
Ghostscript and mupdf are available under both open source agpl and commercial license agreements, while smartoffice, scanskew, and our standalone. Agpl is a fairly new license that was meant to go gplovernetworks. A case in the united states involving the gnu gpl made headlines recently with a denial of a motion to dismiss. You can run this free pc program on windows xpvista7810 32 and 64bit.
A postscript interpreter usually takes as input a set of graphics commands. Conditions on distributing ghostscript in a commercial context. Important open source ruling confirms enforceability of. Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for adobe systems postscript and portable document format pdf page description languages. According to the plaintiff, those seeking to commercially distribute ghostscript could obtain a commercial license to use, modify, copy, andor distribute ghostscript for a fee. Deutsch later formed aladdin enterprises and use it to license ghostscript under a proprietary license. Gnu ghostscript gnu project free software foundation. Ghostscript is a ed work whose is owned by artifex software, inc. However, the author agrees to any redistribution along with the ghostscript software, provided the distributor. The gnu version of the software is a distribution of the ghostscript project from artifex software. This page is licensed under a creative commons attributionnoderivatives 4.
Hancom is a south korean software company that used ghostscript in software they were selling. An interpreter for the postscript language and the pdf file format, a set of c procedures the ghostscript library that implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the postscript language, and. Please fill out the form below to inquire about a commercial license. Trusted by the worlds leading technology and services companies for over 30 years. Gpl ghostscript is a free source interpreter for the postscript language and the adobe portable document format pdf. Ultimately, all of this naming, forking of the software source code, and license wrangling is important to note as two versions emerged from the fray ghostscript, which is ed software owned by artifex software inc. However, not being a lawyer, and actually not having read the whole license, i cant understand what exactly you can do freely and what not with agpl. It basically takes as input a set of graphics commands and interprets so that the output is a bitmap page when sent to an output device, such as a.
Its main purposes are the rasterization or rendering of such page description language files, for the display or printing of document pages, and the conversion between postscript and pdf files. Where is the regular gpl gnu public license version of ghostscript and why is there a separate repository here on sourceforge that is 5 versions out of date compared with the. This license says that gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program to make sure it remains free software for all its users. Unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully controlled by artifex. Ghostscript gpl msi setup is a shareware software in the category miscellaneous developed by corel corporation it was checked for updates 3,079 times by the users of our client application updatestar during the last month the latest version of ghostscript gpl msi setup is. Ghostscript gpl msi software msi setup to exe maker v. My uncertainty is fed by this post about mongodb which is agpl and even more by the comments below. When installed on a computer, it can be used by products such as photoscore to convert pdf files to bitmaps so that they may be processed further. Understanding the gpl is a contract court case bruce. The gnu gpl requires that when you use gpllicensed software to make some other software, the resulting software also has to be opensourced with. Ghostscript is a package of software that provides an interpreter for the postscript tm language, with the ability to convert postscript language files to. An interpreter for the postscript tm language, with the ability to convert postscript language files to many raster formats, view them on displays, and print them on printers that dont have postscript language capability built in. Ghostscript is available either with a gpl licence, or with a commercial licence. This case concerned hancoms failure to distribute or offer to.
More precisely, if a user deletes from the computer system all files delivered with the application except those in the gpl ghostscript directories, the user will still be able to use gpl ghostscript as described in gpl ghostscripts documentation. Currently, ghostscript is owned by artifex software and maintained by its employees and the worldwide user community. A federal court has ruled that an opensource license is an. Gpl ghostscript, as delivered with the application, is usable independently of the application. Ghostscript can be a requirement of other software, for example scribus. This software enables you to create ghostscript libraries that implement the graphics and filtering capabilities. For any enquires about this software contact ghostgum software. Conditions to distribute ghostscript in a commercial context. Ghostscript, ghostpcl, ghostxps, and ghostpdl downloads. The gnu gpl requires that when you use gpllicensed software to make.
The gnu gpl requires that when you use gpllicensed software to make some. Gpl ghostscript freeware for free downloads at winsite. Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for adobe systems postscript and. An interpreter for portable document format pdf files, with the same abilities.
Or, you can uninstall ghostscript gpl msi setup from your computer by using the addremove program feature in the windows control panel. Ianal, but as long as you do not distribute ghostscript, you do not make any copies of the program or parts of it, and you do not build any. Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides. For now, gnu gpl is an enforceable contract, says us. The leading edge of ghostscript development is under the gnu affero gpl license. Ive been working on a commercial project where we would have liked to use ghostscript. Ghostscript gpl msi software free download ghostscript. Agpl ghostscript is the canonical variant available, since february 20, under the gnu affero general public license which is a free software license. You can get the current version of gnu ghostscript by internet. Gpl ghostscript is a software package that bundles interpreters for postscript languages and pdf files, as well as a collection of c procedures for. Download links are directly from our mirrors or publishers.
Gpl ghostscript by artifex software should i remove it. Gpl ghostscript is sometimes referred to as gpl ghostscript eng, gpl ghostscript gnu, gpl ghostscript aldot. This page will help direct you to downloads and information about the open source and commercially licensed releases for. At the time of writing september 2014 the costs for this are rather prohibitive. Agpl ghostscript is provided under the gnu affero general public license. Unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully. I read about sidestepping licensing gs altogether by simply suggesting to the users that they can download and install gs on their own to improve their experience the software actually works without it, too, but most users would want to renderload pdf documents. Gnu ghostscript is known to run on the following platform families. Artifex says that hancom incorporated ghostscript into its hangul software, but neither sought a proprietary license, nor complied with the terms of the gpl by releasing the source code for the. We are studying a prospect of using ghostscript in a commercial product windows desktop application. Top 4 download periodically updates software information of ghostscript full versions from the publishers, but some information may be slightly outofdate using warez version, crack, warez passwords, patches, serial numbers, registration codes, key generator, pirate key, keymaker or keygen for ghostscript license key is illegal.
We keep online documentation for the development tree and many previous releases in the documentation archive. The installation wrapper sites the affero gnu public license agpl or affero gpl license. Peter retired from software development in 2002 to become a composer and musician and sold ghostscript to artifex. To use ghostscript for free, hancom would have to adhere to its opensource license, thegnu general public license gpl. Artifex is the exclusive licensor of the software product, ghostscript, under a gnu general public license version 3. In addition, ghostscript can be used to convert from postscript to pdf and vice versa. On the start menu for windows 8, rightclick the screens bottomleft corner, click control panel, and then, under programs, do one of the following. Us court upholds enforceability of gnu gpl as both a. The actual developer of the free software is artifex software, inc.
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