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SSH-MitM 2.0.0 – Licence change to GPLv3

18 points by paulsen76 5y ago

tasubotadas 5y ago
Why does this matter?
- paulsen76 5y ago
  Because projects which are using LGPL can be included in proprietary applications. Those application must not provide the source. With GPL you can only include the application in other open source software. This makes a big difference. Perhaps the developer wants to avoid that the software is included in commercial software. This is one of the main reasons using GPL over LGPL. Old version which are licensed under LGPL can be still used, but they wont receive updates. Most developers are switching to a proprietary license to make money. If you have used LGPL code and you need an update to the latest version, you gave to buy a license. So switching from LGPL to GPL is a good thing for an open source project.
  - imtringued 5y ago
    It could also be an attempt to prevent security software from gaining a reputation of being misused. A LGPL license is basically pardoning malware authors by looking away and encouraging them.
    - pedrovhb 5y ago
      I can't imagine malware authors being excessively concerned about their malware being non-compliant with open source licenses.
gnabgib 5y ago
According to the commit log this is the license the repo was created with in 2020[0] title should be "SSH-MitM in no way changes its license". Just a point fishing attempt? The latest commit does seem to be undoing a customized wording of the GPLv3 from Dec/2020[1] [0]: https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/f4263d19211f080f4e13731b734389f099a42ee8 https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/f4263d19211f080f... [1]: https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/6db7208c50b3d7e0bceb26b96b80eb4d130ffd60 https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/6db7208c50b3d7e0...
- akerl_ 5y ago
  The “customized wording” you’re seeing is “The LGPL”. It’s a different license from the GPL. The history on the repo shows that the original license was GPL (June 2020), the author changed the license to LGPL (December 2022), and now they’re changing it to GPL again. https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commits/master/LICENSE https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commits/master/LICENSE
  - paulsen76 5y ago
    The switch to LGPL was 13 Dec 2020.
    - akerl_ 5y ago
      Good catch, that’s a typo on my part (especially given that Dec 2022 hasn’t happened yet)

18 points by paulsen76 5y ago

tasubotadas 5y ago

Why does this matter?

paulsen76 5y ago
Because projects which are using LGPL can be included in proprietary applications. Those application must not provide the source. With GPL you can only include the application in other open source software. This makes a big difference. Perhaps the developer wants to avoid that the software is included in commercial software. This is one of the main reasons using GPL over LGPL. Old version which are licensed under LGPL can be still used, but they wont receive updates. Most developers are switching to a proprietary license to make money. If you have used LGPL code and you need an update to the latest version, you gave to buy a license. So switching from LGPL to GPL is a good thing for an open source project.
- imtringued 5y ago
  It could also be an attempt to prevent security software from gaining a reputation of being misused. A LGPL license is basically pardoning malware authors by looking away and encouraging them.
  - pedrovhb 5y ago
    I can't imagine malware authors being excessively concerned about their malware being non-compliant with open source licenses.

gnabgib 5y ago

According to the commit log this is the license the repo was created with in 2020[0] title should be "SSH-MitM in no way changes its license". Just a point fishing attempt? The latest commit does seem to be undoing a customized wording of the GPLv3 from Dec/2020[1] [0]: https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/f4263d19211f080f4e13731b734389f099a42ee8 https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/f4263d19211f080f... [1]: https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/6db7208c50b3d7e0bceb26b96b80eb4d130ffd60 https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commit/6db7208c50b3d7e0...

akerl_ 5y ago
The “customized wording” you’re seeing is “The LGPL”. It’s a different license from the GPL. The history on the repo shows that the original license was GPL (June 2020), the author changed the license to LGPL (December 2022), and now they’re changing it to GPL again. https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commits/master/LICENSE https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/commits/master/LICENSE
- paulsen76 5y ago
  The switch to LGPL was 13 Dec 2020.
  - akerl_ 5y ago
    Good catch, that’s a typo on my part (especially given that Dec 2022 hasn’t happened yet)