Licensing Overview
VacuumOS is an open-source project created by Davide Trezzi. While the distribution includes many components under various open-source licenses (like GPL, MIT, and BSD), the specific configuration, layers, and original code that define VacuumOS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Human-Readable Summary
This is a summary of (and not a substitute for) the full legal code.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution (BY) — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial (NC) — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. This means you cannot sell VacuumOS or use it as a core component of a for-profit product or service without explicit permission.
- ShareAlike (SA) — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
Why this license?
VacuumOS is a labor of love shared for the benefit of the maker and educational community. The Non-Commercial clause ensures that the project remains free for everyone and prevents third parties from profitizing the work without contributing back to the author.
Third-Party Software
VacuumOS is a Linux distribution. As such, the final image contains software licensed under different terms:
- Linux Kernel: GPLv2
- System components: GPL, LGPL, MIT, BSD
- Application software (Nginx, Mosquitto, Python): BSD, EDL, PSF
A complete and detailed list of all licenses included in the binary distribution is available in the license.manifest file included with every download.