• anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    2 months ago

    I haven’t read up on AGPL. How does it differ from GPLv3? :)
    MIT f.e. would allow corporations to take the code and profit from it. GPLv3 would ensure that the funding from the EU would go to projects that remains open source and free.

        • shane@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Sorry I replied to the wrong comment in the thread.

          Let me try to explain.

          GPL was designed to give users access to the source code for hardware they control.

          This worked pretty well until TiVo came up with locks that would only allow you to run kernels they signed. This was to prevent people from putting in cheap disks to their hardware.

          So GNU came up with GPLv3, which closes the TiVo hole. It also tried to address the evils of software patents to an extent.

          That works okay, but then people invented SaaS (software as a service). In that case the user doesn’t own the hardware, so companies don’t have to publish the source under GPL. Which meets the letter of the license and gives a big middle finger to the intent.

          So AGPLv3 was developed to close that hole. With AGPL users must have access to any open source run by a service to provide them with that service, restoring the ability of users to see what the code is doing, and possibly forking and making their own version if it doesn’t do what they want.