In 2007, the gnu affero gpl was published by the free software foundation and was based on gnu gpl version 3. The gnu affero general public license is designed specifically to ensure that, in such cases, the modified source. Im writing this brief article to try debunking them and explain what this license really is. Anyone may modify gpl ghostscript, but the provisions of 1 apply to modified or derived works as well. A3wasteland is a survival sandbox mission for arma 3 where two teams and independent players fight for survival.
Licencia gnu affero agpl compatible con gpl software libre. What licenses exist for free for noncommercial use for software. I again dont so much care about the ethics bsds just fine as i do about the commercial impact. Then the software performs some calculations based on the instructions in the. Jun 21, 2016 it also contains a patent license and retaliation clause which is designed to prevent patents including patent trolls from encumbering the software project. Can i sell an application under the gnu affero general public license gpl. By contrast, the affero general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to make sure the software is free for all its users. These users are granted the same rights as licensees who receive the software. Gnu affero gpl version 3 first discussion draft html. Hi, afaik, this is a derived work of itextsharp, an agpled library. The affero general public license affero gpl and informally affero license is a free software license. The original affero gpl was designed primarily for web applications.
Gpl vs agpl forum free accounting software akaunting. Ohhhh, now i get itthis is an attempt to make modify in the agpl mean something different from modify in the gpl itself, such that you can do things that would be considered modifying in the gpl and hence trigger copyleft and claim they dont constitute modifying for purposes of the extra proviso in the agpl and hence wont trigger copyleft, so you can incorporate agpl code into. Affero and gnu affero based on the gnu gpl version 2, version 1 of the affero gpl was published in 2002 by affero, inc. Gnu affero gpl version 3 second discussion draft html gplv3. It restricts you from using software to build nongpl software including bsdlicensed free software, but it prevents software from being taken private by commercial developers. The lgpl is basically the same as the gpl, but if i use lgpl software inside my software, my software does not become gpl. Agpl what you can do and what you cant software engineering. Agpl ghostscript is provided under the gnu affero general public license agpl. This is a spiritual successor to the original affero general public license, which was based on gplv2 and also had an additional provision so that people using the software over a network could get its source. Gnu affero gpl version 3 and the asp loophole open. Gpl software can also be modified without restrictions, as long as the modified software is kept private. The licenses were originally written by richard stallman, former head of the free software foundation fsf, for the gnu project, and grant the recipients of a. The gpl licenses gplv3, gplv2, lgpl, affero gpl all contain some kind of sharealike license.
What agpl does on top of gpl is the redefinition of user. Affero gpl with php application and db keys in localsettings. Agpl is the affero general public license, a variation of the gpl that caters to programs that run on a server. License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work, but the special requirements of the gnu affero general public license.
Sep 05, 2017 reading black duck software s newest paean to the affero general public license agpl the quietly accelerating adoption of the agpl, one could be forgiven for thinking agpl is rocking the. Why the gnu affero gpl gnu project free software foundation. The gnu affero gpl does not address the problem of service as a software substitute saass. The gnu general public license permits making a modified version and letting the public access it on a server without ever releasing its source code to the public. Gnu affero general public license v3 an overview by rowan wilson is licensed under a creative commons attributionsharealike 4. Gpl, also known as copyleft, grants permission to reuse or modify the source code to make derivative works, but if you distribute your program to others, it requires you to license your derivative work under the gpl too. The gpl is tactically less free, but strategically more free. The affero gpl is designed to close the socalled application service provider loophole in the gpl, which lets asps use gpl code without distributing their changes back to. The gnu affero gpl by brett smith free software foundation. Relationships between the gpl licences and other software are carefully explained in the gpl faq. In fact, the fsf maintainers of the gpl have harsh words for licenses that try to restrict use of the software in any way.
For gpl programs running on your server, you are the user, for agpl, the real users of the app are the users of your website or service. Provision 2 effectively prevents the development of proprietary commercial products that incorporate gpl ghostscript without a commercial license. Top 10 gnu gpl license questions answered whitesource. Built in collaboration between got, tpg, kos, 404games, and others. If a developer modifies a program released under the gpl, he is expected to release the modified program under the same license, but if this program runs on a server only, the developer is not really releasing it to the rest of the world. Developers who wish to address this might want to use the gnu affero gpl for programs designed for network server use. Jstor july 2017 learn how and when to remove this template message. The gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 is a copyleft license nearly identical to the gplv3. It also contains a patent license and retaliation clause which is designed to prevent patents including patent trolls from encumbering the software project.
For more detailed and complete information on the agpl please visit the gnu web site. Free software foundation releases a variation of the gpl that brings its reciprocity obligations to software running as an online service. The gnu affero general public license is a free, copyleft license published by the free software foundation in november 2007, and based on the gnu general public license, version 3 and the affero general public license the free software foundation has recommended that the gnu agplv3 be considered for any software that will commonly be run over a network. Does a commercial enterprise need to buy a commercial licence for. Affero gpl article about affero gpl by the free dictionary. Smith, brett march 29, 2007, gplv3 and software as a service also includes info on version 2 of the affero gpl. Saass means that users use someone elses web server to do their own computing. Boston, massachusetts, usamonday, november 19, 2007the free software foundation fsf today published the gnu affero general public license version 3 gnu agplv3. We recommend that people consider using the gnu agpl for any. Dont believe the hype, agpl open source licensing is. For example, if i release some software under a license like gpl, and.
Reading black duck softwares newest paean to the affero general public license agpl the quietly accelerating adoption of the agpl, one could be. The agpl makes straightforward commercial sense we use it. Gnu affero general public license gnu project free. You should have received a copy of the gnu general public license along with this program.
The agpl license differs from the other gnu licenses in that it was built for network. Gnu affero gpl version 3 first discussion draft html gplv3. The gnu affero general public license is based on the gnu gpl, but has an additional term to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program. Free software foundation announces support of the affero general public license, the first copyleft license for web services press release. This is an incomplete list of software that are licensed under the gnu affero general public. My uncertainty is fed by this post about mongodb which is agpl and even more by the comments below. A company is running a modified version of a gpl ed program on a web site. We recommend that people consider using the gnu agpl for any software which will commonly be run over a network. Because web software is often not distributed think of saas, the gpl people came up with an affero clause. The first version of the affero general public license agplv1, was published by affero, inc.
Does a commercial enterprise need to buy a commercial. Gnu affero general public license gnu project free software. There are a lot of misconceptions about the gnu agpl license. For example, corresponding source includes interface definition files. Gnu affero general public license, you may choose any version ever published. So, for example, providing the software to an employee within your. I have read the gpl faq and i think that this one may apply. The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. The gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 is a. Agpl is a fairly new license that was meant to go gpl overnetworks. Qgis is an official project of the open source geospatial foundation osgeo. If you downloadreceive a copy of a gpld software, you. There is an earlier open source license known as the affero general public license that was not published by the free software foundation, which is not addressed in this article. See the gnu general public license for more details.
What happens if you use agpl software, but deploy it as a different application that your closedsource commercial one. How to achieve vendor lockin with a legit open source. The agpl is the closest thing possible to a proprietary software license. Both the ordinary gnu gpl, version 3, and the gnu affero gpl have text allowing you to link together modules under these two licenses in one program. The gnu affero general public license is a copyleft license for software that is intended to be run on web servers like web applications. A while ago, i noted the slow but growing use in private business of gpl version 3. Shortly after the release of gpl3, the fsf released affero gpl 3. Consider for example the libre software lammps, which uses gnu general public license. If the program specifies that a proxy can decide which future. Gnu affero general public license article about gnu affero. Gnu affero general public license simple english wikipedia. Gnu affero general public license article about gnu. This public license applies to most of affero s software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. Free software foundation releases gnu affero general public.
The licenses were originally written by richard stallman, former head of the free software foundation fsf, for the gnu project, and grant the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software. If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporate commercial environment. Apr 17, 2010 the gpl is tactically less free, but strategically more free. Agpl ghostscript is provided under the gnu affero general public license agpl, as well as under an artifex commercial license.
Media in category free software under the agpl the following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. The gnu general public license gnu gpl or gpl is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the software. Agpl is the abbreviation for gnu affero general public license. The creators of gpl generally imagined that open source software would have a diverse community around it and that the gpl and agpl licenses were a set of rules about how that community interacted with each other and constrain companies working with gpl software to bring their improvements back to the commons. The agplv3s section states an additional condition not present in gplv2 or gplv3. Does the gpl say they must release their modified sources. Dont believe the hype, agpl open source licensing is toxic and. The gnu affero general public license is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works, specifically designed to ensure cooperation with the community in the case of network server software. The agpl can be regarded as an extension to the gpl. The choice of licence comes down to personal preference, and both approaches can. Qgis is a user friendly open source geographic information system gis licensed under the gnu general public license. Conditions on distributing ghostscript in a commercial context. Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. Gnu affero gpl version 3 and the asp loophole open source.
The second version agplv2 was published in november 2007, as a transitional license to allow an upgrade path from. Describes the ability to use the software for commercial purposes. The gnu affero general public license is designed specifically to ensure that, in such cases, the modified source code becomes available to the community. If you have feedback on this document, or any oss watch activity, please send it to. It makes a licensed piece of code the covered work forever free. Gpl the gnu general public license the gpl is a copyleft software licence 1 published by the usbased free software foundation. There is a reasonable description at gnu affero general public license wikipedia and the actual license text is available at gnu affero general public license but to make a long story short, you can probably think of it as a version of the gpl3. A question about closedsource software with gnu gsl for commercial and freeto. Both licenses have the same copyleft scope, but materially differ in one important way.
All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. If you intend to use the gpl d software strictly within. Free software foundation releases gnu affero general. Jul 18, 2014 there are a lot of misconceptions about the gnu agpl license. The gnu affero general public license gnu agpl is a modified version of version 3 of the regular gnu gpl. Mar 31, 2011 the affero gpl is designed to close the socalled application service provider loophole in the gpl, which lets asps use gpl code without distributing their changes back to the open source community. If the software is calling dynamically linked, gpl licensed libraries, will i need to make the entire project gpl. Like the gnu general public license, the affero license allows you to use, copy and change the code of software, but requires that you release your changes if you distribute the software or you run a modified copy on a web server on the internet. See gnu general public license and free software foundation. Nov 19, 2007 boston, massachusetts, usamonday, november 19, 2007the free software foundation fsf today published the gnu affero general public license version 3 gnu agplv3. Natural docs multilanguage source code documentation tool brought to you by. Gnu affero gpl version 3 and the asp loophole submitted by michael tiemann on thu, 20070607 11.
Open source stack exchange is a question and answer site for people organizing, marketing or licensing open source development projects. Aws, for example, has made orders of magnitude more money from. The gpl license does can not enforce cloud applications, only when the project has been deployed to a users system must a derivative project be opensource. Gpl software can be used anywhere, without restrictions. What is the difference between gpl, agpl and lgpl licenses. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. One of the reasons the gpl has been such a successful free software license is because it. Gnu affero gpl version 3 second discussion draft html.
If software is licenced under a gpl license, can it be used without restriction in a corporatecommercial environment. The agpl license covers this loophole by stating the code must be accessible by any users that can in any way interact with the code base including website or web services. This public license applies to most of afferos software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. The affero gpl v3 imposes that all derived works are distributed under the same licence, recursively thus, right now everyone that linked your library without distributing their source code over the internet at least to their own final users is violating the itextpdfs corporate s. Reading black duck software s newest paean to the affero general public license agpl the quietly accelerating adoption of the agpl, one could be forgiven for thinking agpl is rocking the. Dont believe the hype, agpl open source licensing is toxic. However, not being a lawyer, and actually not having read the whole license, i cant understand what exactly you can do freely and what not with agpl.
By contrast, the affero general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free softwareto make sure the software is free for all its users. If you downloadreceive a copy of a gpld software, you can use it in any way, study the code, modify the code, redistribute the software as. Gpl is the abbreviation for gnu general public license. The software that i am refering to is qgis which provides this description. May 27, 2016 gpl the gnu general public license the gpl is a copyleft software licence 1 published by the usbased free software foundation. This page is intended to provide a summary of information that developers and companies may find useful in understanding licensing. The gnu affero general public license is a free, copyleft license for software and other. Using gpllicensed components in proprietary projects. It is intended for licensing software that is not conveyed to users but rather accessed through a network. Projeqtor free project management software explanation. Aug 14, 2007 the gnu general public license permits making a modified version and letting the public access it on a server without ever releasing its source code to the public.
222 364 135 1464 188 53 905 89 719 490 1528 513 1109 831 986 1253 740 697 380 717 919 1252 118 1172 1120 1075 749 141 885 5 1178 140 51 726 68 1414 860 602 469 1389 1327 700 198 93 143 629