Nmap is distributed under the terms of the Nmap Public Source
License (annotated HTML
version / plain text
version). This license is based on
the GNU GPLv2,
but with important additional terms, conditions, clarifications and
exceptions. It also contains a warranty disclaimer and contributor
agreement. We believe it is compliant with
the Open
Source Definition, but we haven't gone through their certification
process (which requires an attorney).
This license does not allow for redistributing Nmap for use with
(or incorporating it's source code within) proprietary hardware. This
includes stand-alone software distribution or inclusion on a hardware
appliance, docker container, virtual machine, etc. We do sell
licenses which permit this as part of
the Nmap OEM program which funds
the Nmap Project. Hundreds of software vendors already license Nmap OEM
to perform network discovery for their products. Other Nmap OEM
benefits include commercial support, updates, and a custom Windows
installer offering silent installation and an OEM version of
our Npcap Windows
packet capturing library. Prices and more details
are available here.
The license itself
is rather terse, so we have created
the Annotated HTML Nmap Public Source
License. This version includes further reasoning behind and
explanations of the license terms. These annotations are not a legal
document or legal advice. If you need to know exactly what the
license requires, you need to read and understand
the license itself; if
you need legal advice, talk to a lawyer.
Note that some releases of Nmap may fall under a previous version
of this license, or a different license entirely. The exact terms for
a given version of Nmap can be found in the included LICENSE or
COPYING file.
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