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FSF, Affero Announce A GPL For Web Services

Posted by timothy on from the quelling-complaints dept.

bkuhn writes: "The Free Software Foundation and Affero announced today the Affero General Public License (AGPL), a modified version of the GNU GPL. The AGPL includes a provision that protects a feature giving download access to the source code of a web service application. Public comment on the license should be sent to <agpl@fsf.org>."

1 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. HTTP? by guerby · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I just submitted the following comment to agpl@fsf.org:

    Hi, I think that the reference to HTTP could be replaced:

    * d) If the Program as you received it is intended to interact with users through a computer network and if, in the version you received, any user interacting with the Program was given the opportunity to request transmission to that user of the Program's complete source code, you must not remove that facility from your modified version of the Program or work based on the Program, and must offer an equivalent opportunity for all users interacting with your Program through a computer network to request immediate transmission by HTTP of the complete source code of your modified version or other derivative work.

    HTTP is not defined in the license, and the rest of the paragraph stays general with "interaction through a computer network". Why not word the requirement to send the source using the same way as the original software did?

    Since the goal is to allow the user to get the source code file on its computer, may be it's better to state only the goal as "the user interacting with the software through a computer network must be able to download the complete source code through a computer network as well" (sorry non native and non lawyer).

    As it is worded, if the original software sends the source by FTP (because for exemple it is an FTP server), it looks like if I change a line of code, I must implement a whole HTTP server as well just to send the modified sources, looks bizarre to me :). Also in the future if HTTP makes no longer sense for this purpose (because the whole word is a network of HURD machines talking through a new GNU protocol :), it makes the license obsolete.

    Also by "any user" do you mean any user originally granted access to the feature permitting the download in the original software?