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I'm planning to develop an open source application and am also considering to set a non-zero price for it.

If an user purchases the app, will he be charged again when updates are released?

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2 Answers

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From my experience with the Software Center and the Humble Indie Bundle apps, no, they will not be charged again. I've installed updates to Bastion without any re-payment, though I redeemed the Bundle apps via the gift codes, so it might be different for store-bought apps.

Technical

When you purchase an app, it adds a private repository (a.k.a. PPA, or personal package archive) to the folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d, e.g. private-ppa.launchpad.net_commercial-ppa-uploaders_bastion_ubuntu.list. The URL inside the file does not change when the app is updated, so I assume you will never have to re-purchase as long as the app is not republished under a new name.

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Thank you, and the additional details are very helpful, too. – Paulo Feb 1 at 3:07
@Shane can change the assumption to fact. You will not be charged for updates. – zoopster Apr 29 at 15:18
up vote 4 down vote

The answer is no, they will not be charged again if updates to the app are released.

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