UGENE License Information
UGENE games are available under the GNU Lesser General Public License. What does this mean? It means that UGENE is Open Source Software, also known as Free Software. According to gnu.org, Free Software embodies four rules:
- Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
- Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.
- Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
- Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
UGENE's games qualify as Free Software because, thanks to SourceForge, we offer their source code free of charge over the Internet. By accepting the LGPL license and downloading UGENE, you gain all of the freedoms described above. However, you are also bound to offer these freedoms to others in the event that you modify UGENE for your own purposes.
Since UGENE projects use the Lesser GPL (as opposed to the full-fledged GPL), you may use UGENE programs inside non-Open Source programs. Hence, while UGENE projects themselves must remain free, there is no requirement for them to be only used as part of free software. Read the LGPL license for details.
To learn more about Open Source software, a good place to start is the Open Source Initiative.
To take advantage of your ability to freely download and study UGENE's games proceed to the Downloads section of this website.