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Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

googlecode.blogspot.com

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Re: Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

#6

Post by 10ren »

tomjen3 wrote: post #5
[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

I doubt that, because it would not be free software, and properly not open source. But the AGPL does make it a requirement that the user can get the source even if the system runs over a network.

[Sorry, I deleted without refreshing to check for replies. Here's the original:]

Aside: I'm curious if there are any OSI approved open source licenses that exclude server use.

I ask, because the current move towards services defeats the purpose of the GPL (of allowing access to the code users depend on.)

Re: Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

#7

Post by jacquesm »

10ren wrote: post #6
tomjen3 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that, because it would not be free software, and properly not open source. But the AGPL does make it a requirement that the user can get the source even if the system runs over a network.

[Sorry, I deleted without refreshing to check for replies. Here's the original:] Aside: I'm curious if there are any OSI approved open source licenses that exclude server use. I ask, because the current move towards services defeats the purpose of the GPL (of allowing access to the code users depend on.)

That's one of the bigger paradoxes of the arrival of the internet. It more or less empowered open source, and then by having the browser as a client made it possible for companies to use open source internally and to build services exposed to end users on top of that open source that will never be released as open source.

The 'affero GPL' attempts to cure this:

http://www.affero.org/oagpl.html

(and the current version: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html )

But so far it has not seen widespread acceptance.

Re: Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

#8

Post by RossM »

ritonlajoie wrote: post #2

Well, this guy invented TL;DR, http://www.reddit.com/user/qgyh2 "....the TL;DR version is that we think we've....."

I'm not sure how that's relevant but as an aside qgyh2 was a project where a large number of users used the account to post (I haven't got a source and I know it sounds myth-y but it's what I've read).

Re: Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

#9

Post by shaddi »

Certainly a change of heart -- we were trying to host an AGPL project on Google Code in 2008 and were told to find a new host or face deletion. There was a discussion that got a bit heated in fact, with with Chris DiBona at one point calling the AGPL "deeply flawed".

http://groups.google.com/group/google-code-hosting/browse_th...

Re: Google Code Project Hosting relaxes license policy

#10

Post by durin42 »

shaddi wrote: post #9

Certainly a change of heart -- we were trying to host an AGPL project on Google Code in 2008 and were told to find a new host or face deletion. There was a discussion that got a bit heated in fact, with with Chris DiBona at one point calling the AGPL "deeply flawed". http://groups.google.com/group/google-code-hosting/browse_th...

AGPL does have some pretty deep flaws. See [0] for a description of some of the problems. I can't say I'd ever touch AGPL code with a 10 foot pole, simply because I've talked to lawyers about it and it's unbelievably messy (add to that the fact that a user of the AGPL is probably much more likely to sue you if you don't meet their expectations on the license.)

[0] http://code.google.com/p/support/issues/detail?id=4297#c6

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