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Project License (Mise à Jour)
This project is released under the Apache License 2.0, a modern, permissive open-source license widely used by major organizations and open ecosystems such as the Apache Foundation, Google, Microsoft, and the Rust community.
Our goal is to build a modular and extensible antivirus platform for Linux, written in Rust.
We chose Apache 2.0 because it balances open collaboration with professional protection—allowing contributors to freely participate while ensuring our team retains control over branding, potential future commercial extensions, and, critically, protection against liability.
The original ClamAV project uses the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL-2.0), which enforces that all derivative works must also be open source under the same license (Copyleft).
While that model was effective in early open-source ecosystems, it’s too restrictive for our goals:
- We aim to build a modular framework, where extension modules can be open or proprietary.
- We want to encourage integrations and enterprise extensions without legal friction.
- We don’t want to block commercial or enterprise adoption due to restrictive license incompatibility.
For these reasons, we chose a more permissive and forward-compatible license.
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Permissive but protective | Freely allows use, modification, and distribution while preserving copyright and attribution. |
| Patent protection | Explicitly grants patent rights — important for professional and corporate users. |
| Trademark and name protection | Prevents misuse of our project name or branding. |
| Commercial flexibility | Allows us to release additional or enterprise modules under different terms if desired (Open-Core model support). |
| Professional standard | Recognized and trusted in the modern open-source ecosystem. |
A core requirement for open-source projects is the protection of developers from liability caused by the free software. The Apache License 2.0 explicitly addresses this:
- Software Provided "AS IS": The software is provided without any warranty, explicit or implied (Section 7). We do not guarantee that the antivirus will be defect-free or suitable for any particular use.
- Limitation of Liability: The license specifically excludes contributors and licensors from liability for any damages (direct, indirect, or consequential) arising from the use or inability to use the software (Section 8).
This ensures that while the core tool is freely available for all to use and improve, the development team is legally protected from any issues caused by the application, which is standard practice for professional open-source projects, including GPL and MIT projects.
| License | Type | Flexibility | Commercial Use | Patent Protection | Liability Protection | Our View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPL-2.0 | Copyleft | ❌ Restricted | ❌ None | ✅ Strong | Too restrictive | |
| MIT | Permissive | ✅ High | ✅ Yes | ❌ None | ✅ Strong | Simple, lacks enterprise protections |
| Apache 2.0 | Permissive | ✅ High | ✅ Yes | ✅ Strong | ✅ Strong | Best balance |
We chose Apache License 2.0 because it:
“Protects our rights, empowers the community, ensures strong liability protection, and keeps our future open.”
This license ensures our project remains open, secure, and future-proof—both as a community-driven antivirus and as a foundation for innovation in Rust-based security tools.