Current version 2 alpha release of the Pentaho BI Platform, as well as future versions, will be distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2 (GPLv2). GPLv2 is a software license published by the Free Software Foundation. Pentaho will also provide a “FLOSS Exception”, which simplifies distribution of Pentaho BI Platform with certain other open source licenses approved by the Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org). The Pentaho BI Platform is the underlying infrastructure which supports Pentaho’s reporting, analysis, dashboard, data integration, and data mining capabilities.
The GPL is the most widely used open source software license. Currently, more than 60% of open source projects tracked on freshmeat.org are GPL-licensed. The GPL is well understood by the market and the legal community and has notable precedents such as MySQL, Java and the Linux kernel as GPL licensed projects. Because the GPL is what’s known as a “reciprocal license” it ensures that the software is open and remains open.