What license is Nagios Plugins distributed under?

The Nagios Plugins is currently distributed using the GNU General Public License version 2.

There is a task to convert the project to be under GPLv3. This is because some C code that we depend upon, from the GNUlib project, is under GPLv3 and therefore some of our C plugins also need to be GPLv3.

So the team has decided rather than having a mixed license, we'll distribute the core Nagios Plugins code as GPLv3.

This page will be updated when this has been completed.

Who owns the copyright for the Nagios Plugin code?

Currently, the copyrights for individual files and plugins are mixed. Sometimes, they are copyrighted to the individual that originally wrote the plugin, though any new changes are copyrighted by the Nagios Plugin Development Team (as listed on Sourceforge).

All code is released under the GPLv2.

There is a task to ensure all code is owned (solely or dual copyright) to the Nagios Plugins Development Team, to avoid confusion about ownership in future. This page will be updated to reflect when this has been completed.

Can I submit a patch to this project?

Of course you can! This is an open source project!

Ideally, raise a tracker item in Sourceforge, so your patch doesn't get lost. Then chase up via the nagiosplug-devel mailing list, if nothing happens. But be aware, this project is run by volunteers, so there is not necessarily immediate response!

By submitting a patch, you are stating that:

• this is your own work or you have full rights to it
• that you are handing over copyright for the patch to the Nagios Plugin Development Team

If you disagree with handing over copyright, it maybe possible to dual copyright your change - please ask on the nagiosplug-devel mailing list.

We require the copyright ownership for legal reasons.

If your patch is accepted, we will:

• add a comment with your name when committing to version control
• add your name to the list of contributors in the THANKS file