Couchbase LIcense Understanding

Question

Couchbase is an open source project, and the source code is protected by the Apache 2.0 license. This license allows developers to download, modify, use, deploy, etc. Etc. Whatever code he wants, including for commercial purposes (of course, with restrictions regarding the inclusion of all licenses and attribution, as well as restrictions on redistribution / resale).

However, according to this - http://www.couchbase.com/couchbase-support, the use of the Couchbase server is limited to the created 2-node cluster. The full license agreement is here - http://www.couchbase.com/docs//licensing/licenses-enterprise.html

Don't these two things contradict each other? What if I download the source code, modify it, compile and deploy it in my production environment. Am I still limited to 2 nodes, unless I pay for an annual license contract and a support contract?

Please understand that I am not looking for a way around any legal licensing restrictions and do not "steal" any software. That would be hypocritical if I myself am a software developer. I'm just looking for clarification as to what my permissible rights are associated with these software licenses.

Answer 1

One license applies to the source code, another license refers to the binaries distributed by Couchbase, Inc. Many open source licenses allow the distribution of binary files in other terms.

In addition, I should note that Couchbase also has a Community Edition binary distribution, which has different terms associated with it. Couchbase has a record for these two parameters .

Check out this entry from the Open Source Initiative . There are a lot of good materials on this site.

Answer 2

The Couchbase Community license has changed and you can now run it on more than two sites.

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/3186778