3 ms·

The AGPL's extra requirements only apply if you modify the program. If you don't, then deploying it is just as easy as deploying an MIT-licensed program.

afiori 3y ago
I believe that the AGPL has the same boundaries as the GPL that is if you for example run a nodejs server using a single AGPL package in your node_modules then users should be able to download the source code of your entire node app.
- josephcsible 3y ago
  But now you're talking about using an AGPL library in your own program, rather than deploying just an AGPL-licensed program.
  - afiori 3y ago
    libraries are software
    - josephcsible 3y ago
      Yes, but my point is there's a difference between "just deploy their software" and "combine their software with your software and deploy the result".
      - afiori 3y ago
        I agree, but for example it is not obvious whether you can deploy mixed licenses with docker-compose.
  - andrewl-hn 3y ago
    When you include an AGPL library your program becomes a derivative work, so the rest of your program becomes AGPL-licensed as well. The boundaries of what part of the system should or should not be included are vague, because *GPL licenses are written with C semantics in mind. So, while having a library directly in the same running process definitely makes you work a derivative, it's not clear if you the same is true if the library is a part of a different process and your program talks to it via an IPC, a filesystem, a database, an API, etc. Depending of the interpretation you may have toped-source just a tiny part of your program running on a server, or all server-side and client-side code and all supplemental scripts, tools, etc. needed for the system to run. So, it's legally ambiguous, and since no-one has legally tested the waters the interpretation of the license can be very different, but most people prefer to stay away from AGPL code altogether.

afiori 3y ago

I believe that the AGPL has the same boundaries as the GPL that is if you for example run a nodejs server using a single AGPL package in your node_modules then users should be able to download the source code of your entire node app.

josephcsible 3y ago
But now you're talking about using an AGPL library in your own program, rather than deploying just an AGPL-licensed program.
- afiori 3y ago
  libraries are software
  - josephcsible 3y ago
    Yes, but my point is there's a difference between "just deploy their software" and "combine their software with your software and deploy the result".
    - afiori 3y ago
      I agree, but for example it is not obvious whether you can deploy mixed licenses with docker-compose.
- andrewl-hn 3y ago
  When you include an AGPL library your program becomes a derivative work, so the rest of your program becomes AGPL-licensed as well. The boundaries of what part of the system should or should not be included are vague, because *GPL licenses are written with C semantics in mind. So, while having a library directly in the same running process definitely makes you work a derivative, it's not clear if you the same is true if the library is a part of a different process and your program talks to it via an IPC, a filesystem, a database, an API, etc. Depending of the interpretation you may have toped-source just a tiny part of your program running on a server, or all server-side and client-side code and all supplemental scripts, tools, etc. needed for the system to run. So, it's legally ambiguous, and since no-one has legally tested the waters the interpretation of the license can be very different, but most people prefer to stay away from AGPL code altogether.