Hyvä Theme Open Source License

Can I create a Theme based on the Open Source Hyvä Theme?

Yes! You can! You can create both free as commercial Themes based on the Hyvä Theme. Due to the dual licensing under OSL 3.0 and AFL 3.0, you can create Themes build on Hyvä even using proprietary licenses. Please read the blueprint we've laid out below carefully to decide which license best fits your product based on the Hyvä Theme.

The base licenses: OSL 3.0 and AFL 3.0

The default-theme is distributed dual-licensed under the AFL 3.0 and the OSL 3.0, while all supporting modules are licensed under the OSL 3.0 only.

These licenses can be found at:

http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
http://opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php Academic Free License (AFL 3.0)

To get a good understanding of these licenses we recommend reading these documents by Lawrence Rosen, who is the author of both the OSL and AFL:

Creating a Hyvä Theme based product without creating derivative work

While the OSL 3.0 is a copy-left license, the conditions that constitute a derivative work are different from for example the GPL (see Rosen article). You are allowed to dynamically link libraries without creating a derivative work (which is how using or extending PHP classes works) as long as you don’t redistribute the original work (as in copy and possibly modify).

So in short, if you are depending on Hyvä Theme for your product, but don’t copy and possibly modify original code from the Hyvä modules, you are free to create any Commercial or Free extensions. You are free to use any license to distribute your product.

If you are not creating a derivative work, you can stop reading here, happy coding!

Creating derivative works of the Hyvä Theme

FOSS (Free and Open Source) products based on the Hyvä Theme

You may create derivative works, meaning you can copy and modify any source file from the Hyvä Theme as long as you keep copyright notices intact.

You also need to include a copy of the full, unmodified license text of the license you choose to redistribute under (either LICENSE.txt for the OSL or LICENSE_AFL.txt) in the root of your codebase.

If you choose to redistribute under OSL3.0:

You may copy and modify any code from the Hyvä Theme including all the supporting modules listed below:

hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme
hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme-csp
hyva-themes/magento2-base-layout-reset
hyva-themes/magento2-compat-module-fallback
hyva-themes/magento2-email-module
hyva-themes/magento2-luma-checkout
hyva-themes/magento2-mollie-theme-bundle
hyva-themes/magento2-order-cancellation-webapi
hyva-themes/magento2-theme-fallback
hyva-themes/magento2-theme-module

If you choose to redistribute under a different Open Source license:

You must only copy (and possibly modify) code from the default theme, as you can choose to license it under the AFL, which allows redistribution under a different license with a number of restrictions.

This gets complex fast, you must assure the license you choose to distribute under is compatible with the AFL. Do your research and consider legal consultation!

Commercial products based on the Hyvä Theme.

You can choose to distribute your commercial product under an Open Source license or a Proprietary license.

You may create and distribute a product based on Hyvä Theme under the OSL and still sell it commercially, in which case the conditions listed in the previous section apply.

If you wish to create a proprietary licensed product, you will need to adhere to the conditions set by the AFL.

Note that only these Hyvä modules are distributed under AFL and allow redistribution of derivative works under proprietary licenses:

hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme
hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme-csp

You are allowed to copy (and possibly modify) any of the files in the Hyvä Theme into your product, as long as you preserve the copyright notices. Preserve the entire copyright header in copied files. In modified files add a notice to the header such as “Modifications by YourName under the terms of the AFL 3.0”.

Copy the full, unmodified LICENSE_AFL.txt file to the root of your codebase.

The AFL also requires the original, unmodified source code to be provided. This can be done by requiring the hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme(-csp) module in your composer.json file, or by adding a link or instructions on where to obtain it (that is, a link to https://github.com/hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme)

You must provide attribution in the readme file in the root of your project:

This product includes software developed by Hyvä Themes. (https://hyva.io) and distributed under the Academic Free License (AFL) v3.0

You may not use the name of the original licensor (Hyvä Themes) or its contributors to endorse or promote your derivative theme without their explicit prior written permission.

Including modifications to Hyvä Theme helper modules in your product:

If you wish to modify the behaviour of the helper modules for the theme, you need to adhere to the OSL license terms and will have to either:

Do it without creating derivative work of the particular helper module
Redistribute the derivative work based on the helper module under OSL separately

This affects the following modules:

hyva-themes/magento2-base-layout-reset
hyva-themes/magento2-compat-module-fallback
hyva-themes/magento2-email-module
hyva-themes/magento2-luma-checkout
hyva-themes/magento2-mollie-theme-bundle
hyva-themes/magento2-order-cancellation-webapi
hyva-themes/magento2-theme-fallback
hyva-themes/magento2-theme-module