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> you are given right to use a piece of software, but only if you provide source code to anybody connecting to your server This is a convoluted way to put it!
by enriquto 3y ago
> you are given right to use a piece of software, but only if you provide source code to anybody connecting to your server
This is a convoluted way to put it! You use the word "use", not to mean the actual users of the program, but a third party that distributes/installs it.
It is clearer to see the AGPL as giving rights to the users, not imposing obligations on the distributors. Thus, if you use an AGPL program, you are given the right to see, change and redistribute its source code (regardless of whether the program is running on your own computer or on a third-party server).
Copyleft is not meant to restrict, but to grant freedoms to the end users of the software.
- pessimizer 3y ago> Copyleft is not meant to restrict, but to grant freedoms to the end users of the software. That's the goal, but materially it is restrictive licensing, meant to impose obligations on the distributors, in order to grant freedoms to the end users of the software. I think that pretending copyleft isn't restrictive is misleading, and it ultimately weakens it. It's as important to respect the GPLs as it is to respect any other restrictive, "proprietary" license. One has no more right to violate the GPL than they have to violate Microsoft licensing.