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for someone who doesn't know better, what is the benefit to AGPL and what license were they using originally? found the issue btw: https://github.com/tootsuite
by riffic 6y ago
for someone who doesn't know better, what is the benefit to AGPL and what license were they using originally?
found the issue btw: https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/49 https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/49
- Seirdy 6y agoSoftware that isn't executed on a user's machine is out of the user's control. The GNU AGPL redefines distribution to include serving over a network so that software served over a network must disclose source code as well (unminified JS, server-side code, etc). It's also copyleft, which is good: the purpose of permissive licenses is to enable proprietary derivatives, which is against the spirit of the Fediverse.
- square_usual 6y agoOne interesting consequence of Mastodon's AGPL licensing is that Gab, the right-wing twitter clone that runs a Mastodon fork, also has to disclose its source. That was how people found a vulnerability in Gab that allowed the recent "hack".
- confused78 6y agoAs a service operator, why would I want to choose software licensed this way?
- ryankemper 6y agoAs an operator you're always making a tradeoff between the "negatives" of a license and the "positives" enabled by the actual software. So for one example, the recent (bait and) switch of Elasticsearch to SSPL effectively means that for many actual real-world users of Elasticsearch, the benefits of staying on the official Elastic branch has ceased to be worth the costs of the license when your alternative is running FOSS Elasticsearch/Opensearch. So to answer your actual question - presumably as an operator you want to use the AGPL-licensed code more than you want to avoid those same negatives of AGPL.
- arcticbull 6y agoThat's exactly why I license everything I open-source MIT/Apache.
- rakoo 6y agoBecause what you're offering is a service, and not someone else's software. Your added value is not actually in the code or the cute pictures; it's being available, having a low latency, allowing people with no tech knowledge to take part in the discussion, building a relation based on mutual trust rathet than serfdom. It's fundamentally the difference between a user and a consumer.
- technion 6y agoI find that issue very confusing. How is a GPL-2 license not acceptable for being listed on a website of GNU projects? I note they went along with the relicense but the site only currently lists "GNU FM" and "GNU Social". Is there an actual compelling argument for a project to choose a license just to be listed alongside those?
- mattl 5y agoGNU FM and GNU social are both AGPL projects. The gnu.io site was for GNU projects that were AGPL.