5 ms·

Puppet switches GPL license to Apache

24 points by mmrobins 15y ago

AmazingBytecode 15y ago
This is probably a good thing for Puppet. If the want to drive adoption of their software in the enterprise, it's better to switch to a more permissive license than the somewhat Idealistic GPL. It will make corporate legal departments more comfortable with the idea of using Puppet.
nodata 15y ago
I am amazed that something as far reaching as a license change is based on "I heard this, I heard that" logic.
- danssig 15y ago
  Presumably you're customers will be using similar logic so it's not completely invalid.
barkingcat 15y ago
What a crappy article. The author clearly didn't do the homework - and instead resorts to a bunch of conjectures.
joshwa 15y ago
I keep wanting to try Puppet, but they have very effectively hidden the OSS version. Where the hell is it?
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ What the hell are you talking about, that was linked right off their homepage as "Download". Can't really be any less hidden than that.
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    Is it? "Download" links here: http://info.puppetlabs.com/download http://info.puppetlabs.com/download Then I have to click a link at the bottom to here: http://info.puppetlabs.com/register-download http://info.puppetlabs.com/register-download Then I have to scroll to the bottom to skip registration and get to the page you linked.
    - burgerbrain 15y ago
      I only see the register page when I go there, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
  - joshwa 15y ago
    Plenty of enterprise software products have "Download" pages, but they're usually for evaluation versions. I tried clicking two different download links on the home page: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-pa1axqcg8njxqc4t4gcd756j16.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-pa1axqcg8njxqc4t4gcd756j16.j... Both of which take you to this form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-e8a87jdr5ns9asabt1yyyn2jib.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-e8a87jdr5ns9asabt1yyyn2jib.j... which has no reference to the open source edition. The next place I check is "Community" since that's often where "Community Editions" live. No reference on any of those pages to the development of the core product, only add-ons. If I click yet a third download link, in the secondary navigation, I get a nearly-identical form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-j37g25rkatu2r626ykt2xp3jqp.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-j37g25rkatu2r626ykt2xp3jqp.j... Which says I can only download "related Puppet components". Which takes me to yet another form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-gxtt1bg614t23gqnqnhxhans3y.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-gxtt1bg614t23gqnqnhxhans3y.j... With a no-registration-required link buried at the bottom. Which takes me to the aforementioned "Download" page: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-fnshtrwdmmd7xkfnm2gk1xsriy.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-fnshtrwdmmd7xkfnm2gk1xsriy.j... which has no reference to the fact that it's the open-source version I'm downloading. If I scroll ALL the way down to the bottom, I see a link to the source on Github. There is only one mention of the word GPL on the main Puppet site, and that's in a blog post from a few days ago announcing the license switch. I stand my my assertion that the OSS product is very well hidden.
- pyre 15y ago
  http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/
- Schmidt 15y ago
  I'd say it is easier to just do "gem install puppet" if you have ruby already installed.
  - RyanGWU82 15y ago
    And "apt-get install puppet" if you're on Debian or Ubuntu.
  - jarin 15y ago
    https://github.com/railsmachine/moonshine https://github.com/railsmachine/moonshine if you're deploying a Rails app to a VPS like Linode or Slicehost. It's a handy wrapper around puppet that lets you go from bare server to fully deployed Rails app with one config file, two commands, and about 10 minutes of automated package installs.
    - sibsibsib 15y ago
      this looks pretty cool. Happen to know any similar projects for python?
- dspillett 15y ago
  Unless you particularly need the absolutely latest version (or further up-to-date, the bleeding edge development version) then aptitude install puppet (or the yum equivalent, or what-ever your chosen OS setup's package management is based on) should do the trick and you'll get security updates along with your usual update process and library dependencies (if you are missing any) will be handled for you.
tzs 15y ago
Here's what they say on the Puppet blog about this: http://www.puppetlabs.com/blog/relicensing-puppet-to-apache-2-0/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/blog/relicensing-puppet-to-apache-...
thomasz 15y ago
you should work on your about page. Do a five minute usability test and ask five random people what puppet does. Hint: The only clue is hidden in the book ad at the very end of the page.

24 points by mmrobins 15y ago

This is probably a good thing for Puppet. If the want to drive adoption of their software in the enterprise, it's better to switch to a more permissive license than the somewhat Idealistic GPL. It will make corporate legal departments more comfortable with the idea of using Puppet.

nodata 15y ago

I am amazed that something as far reaching as a license change is based on "I heard this, I heard that" logic.

danssig 15y ago
Presumably you're customers will be using similar logic so it's not completely invalid.

barkingcat 15y ago

What a crappy article. The author clearly didn't do the homework - and instead resorts to a bunch of conjectures.

joshwa 15y ago

I keep wanting to try Puppet, but they have very effectively hidden the OSS version. Where the hell is it?

burgerbrain 15y ago
http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ What the hell are you talking about, that was linked right off their homepage as "Download". Can't really be any less hidden than that.
- dangrossman 15y ago
  Is it? "Download" links here: http://info.puppetlabs.com/download http://info.puppetlabs.com/download Then I have to click a link at the bottom to here: http://info.puppetlabs.com/register-download http://info.puppetlabs.com/register-download Then I have to scroll to the bottom to skip registration and get to the page you linked.
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    I only see the register page when I go there, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
- joshwa 15y ago
  Plenty of enterprise software products have "Download" pages, but they're usually for evaluation versions. I tried clicking two different download links on the home page: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-pa1axqcg8njxqc4t4gcd756j16.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-pa1axqcg8njxqc4t4gcd756j16.j... Both of which take you to this form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-e8a87jdr5ns9asabt1yyyn2jib.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-e8a87jdr5ns9asabt1yyyn2jib.j... which has no reference to the open source edition. The next place I check is "Community" since that's often where "Community Editions" live. No reference on any of those pages to the development of the core product, only add-ons. If I click yet a third download link, in the secondary navigation, I get a nearly-identical form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-j37g25rkatu2r626ykt2xp3jqp.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-j37g25rkatu2r626ykt2xp3jqp.j... Which says I can only download "related Puppet components". Which takes me to yet another form: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-gxtt1bg614t23gqnqnhxhans3y.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-gxtt1bg614t23gqnqnhxhans3y.j... With a no-registration-required link buried at the bottom. Which takes me to the aforementioned "Download" page: https://img.skitch.com/20110503-fnshtrwdmmd7xkfnm2gk1xsriy.jpg https://img.skitch.com/20110503-fnshtrwdmmd7xkfnm2gk1xsriy.j... which has no reference to the fact that it's the open-source version I'm downloading. If I scroll ALL the way down to the bottom, I see a link to the source on Github. There is only one mention of the word GPL on the main Puppet site, and that's in a blog post from a few days ago announcing the license switch. I stand my my assertion that the OSS product is very well hidden.
pyre 15y ago
http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/misc/download-options/
Schmidt 15y ago
I'd say it is easier to just do "gem install puppet" if you have ruby already installed.
- RyanGWU82 15y ago
  And "apt-get install puppet" if you're on Debian or Ubuntu.
- jarin 15y ago
  https://github.com/railsmachine/moonshine https://github.com/railsmachine/moonshine if you're deploying a Rails app to a VPS like Linode or Slicehost. It's a handy wrapper around puppet that lets you go from bare server to fully deployed Rails app with one config file, two commands, and about 10 minutes of automated package installs.
  - sibsibsib 15y ago
    this looks pretty cool. Happen to know any similar projects for python?
dspillett 15y ago
Unless you particularly need the absolutely latest version (or further up-to-date, the bleeding edge development version) then aptitude install puppet (or the yum equivalent, or what-ever your chosen OS setup's package management is based on) should do the trick and you'll get security updates along with your usual update process and library dependencies (if you are missing any) will be handled for you.

tzs 15y ago

Here's what they say on the Puppet blog about this: http://www.puppetlabs.com/blog/relicensing-puppet-to-apache-2-0/ http://www.puppetlabs.com/blog/relicensing-puppet-to-apache-...

thomasz 15y ago

you should work on your about page. Do a five minute usability test and ask five random people what puppet does. Hint: The only clue is hidden in the book ad at the very end of the page.