OpenVPN Support Forum

Dear OpenVPN,

I would like to obtain a copy of the OpenVPN Connect iOS application's source code. I cannot find any references on the website anywhere on how to obtain the source. It is my understanding that you are bound under the GPL and possibly other licenses to make the source available along with your object code.

the open-source of the OpenVPN Connect sourcecode can be found on the internet (code.google.com) ; there is also a closed-source portion that is NOT freely available. This is the interesting part, of course, for which OpenVPN Inc had to sign an NDA.

Thanks, janjust. For completion and future reference, would you mind posting the URL in this thread?

In reference to the closed-source part, the NDA you reference, with whom is that and why does it prevent them from disclosing the source? Additionally, isn't OpenVPN bound by the GPLv2?

the thing is, I cannot recall the URL. I will ask on the #openvpn-devel forum.

And no, OpenVPN is not bound to the GPL - the community edition of the software is, but this is a completely new implementation in C++ that is NOT bound to the GPL per se.

The OpenVPN Connect clients for iOS and Android are based on the OpenVPN 3.0 code which is publicly licensed under the AGPL and available here:

http://staging.openvpn.net/openvpn3/

Note that OpenVPN Tech. cannot release the code that implements the integration between OpenVPN and the iOS VPN Framework because it's under NDA.

Regarding the issue of GPL requirement to disclose source code, this is only a requirement if you are using other people's GPL code. If you are the copyright holder of a body of work, you are free to license or relicense it in any way as you see fit.

James

That's assuming they are the sole copyright holder and have accepted no contributions whatsoever.

lhunath wrote:That's assuming they are the sole copyright holder and have accepted no contributions whatsoever.

Which is the case here. The client code used for iOS and Android was a complete rewrite, with no outside contributions.

jamesyonan wrote:The OpenVPN Connect clients for iOS and Android are based on the OpenVPN 3.0 code which is publicly licensed under the AGPL and available here:

http://staging.openvpn.net/openvpn3/

Note that OpenVPN Tech. cannot release the code that implements the integration between OpenVPN and the iOS VPN Framework because it's under NDA.

Regarding the issue of GPL requirement to disclose source code, this is only a requirement if you are using other people's GPL code. If you are the copyright holder of a body of work, you are free to license or relicense it in any way as you see fit.

James

So, basically, the NDA is protecting the use of private APIs? Then Apple accepts apps that use private APIs as long as one signs an NDA?
How did you guys get to do that?


PS: If not all code is published, how can anybody be sure that keys and other things are not being leaked by the code that is not open source?

In my opinion this is an outrageous move. However, if you liberated your IOS device, you can use tunemu for OpenVPN: http://code.gerade.org/tunemu/

emmanuele wrote:If not all code is published, how can anybody be sure that keys and other things are not being leaked by the code that is not open source?

Good point. If trust is the primary motivation for OpenVPN to publish its source code, hiding part of the source completely defeats that objective.