# Scanworker Licensing Copyright © 2026 Ralf Hartmann . ## GPL software The Scanworker source repository, processing services, packages, and free macOS controller app are licensed under GNU GPL version 3 or, at your option, any later version (`GPL-3.0-or-later`), except where an individual file clearly says otherwise. The free app is distributed directly, including by Homebrew Cask, and is not submitted to the Mac App Store. See [LICENSE.md](LICENSE.md). ## Shared app code: narrowly scoped additional permission Some Scanworker-authored UI or API-client files may be useful in both the free GPL controller and the paid proprietary App Store controller. Only files bearing this exact notice receive the GPLv3 section 7 additional permission: `SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later WITH Scanworker-App-Store-Exception-1.0` The complete permission is in [SCANWORKER-APP-STORE-EXCEPTION-1.0.md](SCANWORKER-APP-STORE-EXCEPTION-1.0.md). Unmarked files remain GPL-3.0-or-later without that permission. Applying the notice requires a recorded rights review; it must not be applied to third-party code or a contribution without the necessary written grant. The exception permits an official paid controller to reuse marked components. It does not convert the Homebrew services or the free app into proprietary software, revoke anyone's GPL rights, or override a dependency's license. ## Paid App Store controller The paid controller is a separate, closed-source product under a custom EULA, not a differently packaged copy of the GPL service suite. Its proprietary code and marked shared files may be distributed in object form only where Scanworker holds sufficient rights. The planned terms are recorded in [PAID_APP_EULA_DRAFT.md](PAID_APP_EULA_DRAFT.md). The EULA is intentionally a draft pending qualified legal review. It is designed to license rather than sell the app, disclaim warranties and any guarantee of function, availability, accuracy, fitness, or usefulness to the maximum lawful extent, exclude liability for property, data, financial, consequential, and other damages where lawful, and preserve non-waivable consumer and product-liability rights. The final custom EULA must also contain Apple's current minimum terms and be supplied in App Store Connect for the selected territories. ## Third-party software Third-party libraries, OCR engines, models, and external tools retain their own licenses. Neither the exception nor the paid-app EULA relicenses them. Every paid app archive requires a dependency and source-file rights inventory; incompatible material must remain in the separately installed GPL services or be replaced. ## Contributions Ordinary contributions can remain GPL-only, but cannot then be copied into the paid app. Before marking contributed code with the exception or using it in the paid product, the maintainer must obtain an explicit written grant covering both GPL distribution and the proprietary official controller. The grant, contributor, files, and revision must be recorded. Submission alone does not grant those relicensing rights. This document records the intended licensing architecture and is not legal advice. The exception, contributor grants, dependency inventory, custom EULA, privacy terms, and German/EU consumer-law treatment require legal review before the first paid release.