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Is Ethereum open source?

I've heard different things from different people.

Stephan Tual has written:

"Everything at Ethereum, including our website, our tools, our whitepapers and of course our all of our software and compilers are 100%, wall to wall open source and under the GPL."

But then what about the Ethereum Foundation?

How does the open-sourceiodicity of Ethereum compare to that of Bitcoin? How does it compare to that of the proposed "private blockchain" Hyperledger project?

smatthewenglish
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  • If you heard different things from different people, please include a statement in your question which conflicts with the one already in it. If someone answered by stating that the statement already in your question is true, that'd be just another statement on the question. However, if you include statements from either side, an answer my show how one of them is false. – UTF-8 Dec 01 '16 at 14:38

1 Answers1

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Is Ethereum open source?

Yes. You can find all the source code on Github.

Technically, Ethereum - as in the idea - is open source since you can read the full specification in the yellow paper.

Ethereum - as in the software - is open source and you can find all major and minor implementations on Github: geth, mist, etc. (GPL, LGPL)

But then what about the Ethereum Foundation?

Yes. You can find a general statement here

q9f
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  • Am I correct to assume that I can copy Ethereum's source code, modify it to create my own blockchain and sell my new currency, without any problems provided that I follow GPL and LGPL? – Curt Jun 07 '17 at 00:24
  • Might be a good question for https://opensource.stackexchange.com/ – q9f Jun 07 '17 at 07:41