I have desktop .NET application and would like to extend it with web front-end using ServiceStack which I like very much. However here the problem comes: would it be possible to distribute such application bundled with ServiceStack to the third-parties? As far as I understood the usage terms forbid me to distribute license key along with the application that is not a problem until the application is used internally. Do you have any special licensing conditions for bundled usage cases?
Whilst each developer needs their own developer license you can still distribute your license key when you deploy your application (which is required for your App to function). When deploying your product to 3rd parties it’s recommended to use the b) license registration option where your license key is embedded in code and distributed inside the deployed binaries, e.g:
Thank you very much for the explanation. I have one more question. When I deliver the application to the user would the application still run after the embedded into the binary license expires? In other words shall I renew my developer license and provide the users with updated binary every year?
Yes the deployed App would still run even if you haven’t renewed. Renewing lets you upgrade to use any newer versions of ServiceStack released after your software maintenance expiry for an additional 12 months term, but it doesn’t affect existing deployed versions of ServiceStack which never expire.
In relation to this… the license agreement reads like we cannot redistribute ServiceStack but the prices page says “royalty free”. And the answers to this question suggest that distribution is allowed.
Please can you clarify if redistribution is permitted under the license agreement? If we develop software that uses ServiceStack can we sell our software as long as we hide the license key inside the apphost config in code?
Yes you can freely redistribute your ServiceStack Apps if you’re using the standard royalty-free developer licensing model (i.e. the enterprise per-core licensing model isn’t royalty-free).