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Is Ubuntu free to install, customize and use - even to perform commercial purposes by using other apps available on it?

Artur Meinild
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Boadistack
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    yes, Ubuntu is free to install and you can do anything with it. Certain things, like support from Canonical or possibly paid applications, can cost money, but the OS is free to be used however you like, even for commercial purposes. – Esther Aug 18 '22 at 14:55
  • Yes, it is. That's basically the idea of FOSS (Free Open Source Software) - it's free for everyone and for every purpose. If you want to learn more, look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software – raj Aug 18 '22 at 16:34

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Please read the Canonical "Intellectual property rights policy" about what you can and can't do - it should be pretty clear:

Excerpt from section 3:

3. Your use of Ubuntu

  • You can download, install and receive updates to Ubuntu for free.
  • Ubuntu is freely available to all users for personal, or in the case of organisations, internal use. It is provided for this use without warranty. All implied warranties are disclaimed to the fullest extent permitted at law.
  • You can modify Ubuntu for personal or internal use
  • You can make changes to Ubuntu for your own personal use or for your organisation’s own internal use.
  • You can redistribute Ubuntu, but only where there has been no modification to it.
  • You can redistribute Ubuntu in its unmodified form, complete with the installer images and packages provided by Canonical (this includes the publication or launch of virtual machine images).
  • Any redistribution of modified versions of Ubuntu must be approved, certified or provided by Canonical if you are going to associate it with the Trademarks. Otherwise you must remove and replace the Trademarks and will need to recompile the source code to create your own binaries. This does not affect your rights under any open source licence applicable to any of the components of Ubuntu. If you need us to approve, certify or provide modified versions for redistribution you will require a licence agreement from Canonical, for which you may be required to pay. For further information, please contact us (as set out below).
  • We do not recommend using modified versions of Ubuntu which are not modified in accordance with this IPRights Policy. Modified versions may be corrupted and users of such modified systems or images may find them to be inconsistent with the updates published by Canonical to its users. If they use the Trademarks, they are in contravention of this IPRights Policy. Canonical cannot guarantee the performance of such modified versions. Canonical’s updates will be consistent with every version of Ubuntu approved, certified or provided by Canonical.
Artur Meinild
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Please see @Artur Meinild's answer about the IP rights of Ubuntu and Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

However, it should be emphasized that a great deal of software in Ubuntu is not Canonical's intellectual property. Ubuntu is actually an aggregate work of many works, each covered by their own license.

You must abide by the license of any and all software that you use when you use Ubuntu.

Typically, most of the software in Ubuntu is covered by a permissive "copyleft" license. Examples of copyleft licenses are MIT, GNU GPL, BSD, LGPL, and others. These free or open-source licenses are generally designed to require the following:

  • Freedom to use the software however you want
  • Freedom to study the software and read the source code
  • Freedom to copy and share the software with others
  • Freedom to modify the software and redistribute the modified software

If you choose to modify and redistribute software published under an open source license, most licenses require that your modified work must keep the same license. So for example, if you modify software licensed under GPLv3, you are not allowed to redistribute the modified software as closed source, and you cannot restrict other people from making their own changes.

Nmath
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