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The "FUD" exists because AGPL is poorly written. There are many situations in which complying with clauses like this is almost impossible > 13. Remote Networ
by rosnd 4y ago
The "FUD" exists because AGPL is poorly written.
There are many situations in which complying with clauses like this is almost impossible
> 13. Remote Network Interaction; Use with the GNU General Public License.
> Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the
Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users
interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version
supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding
Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source
from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary
means of facilitating copying of software. This Corresponding Source
shall include the Corresponding Source for any work covered by version 3
of the GNU General Public License that is incorporated pursuant to the
following paragraph.
- brutusborn 4y agoWhat kind of situations? So far none of the comments criticizing AGPL provide an example.
- rosnd 4y agoFor example an analytics tool like Piwik couldn't really work with AGPL, as it inherently can't prominently offer anything to users. Unless we're going to interpret "prominent" as "whatever is convenient", this clause restricts AGPL to software which is capable of prominently displaying messages to the user.
- brutusborn 4y agoThanks for the example, but I'm still confused. Can't you just add a button to the dashboard for "download source"
- rosnd 4y agoWell, that dashboard would be a different piece of software. It's a poorly written license, it leaves you with no clear answers in this situation.
- tpxl 4y agoThe part you quoted says you have to provide the source for the remote software on the same server as the remote software, for no charge. How is that almost impossible?
- rosnd 4y agoThere are many pieces of software that users interact with, but which are unable to prominently display anything at all. The AGPL license essentially forbids such uses of software.