Ive always wondered about whether the agpl is a good fit for software that isnt accessed over the network. You may have already heard of this open source license, but if not, here are a few things every saas company needs to know about the afferro gpl or agpl at least from the perspective of an open source attorney 1 if you use agpld code or modified code in your saas offering, you need to make the source code available. As far as the regular gpl and lgpl are concerned, providing access to use your software over a network like in saas is not considered distribution. It gives each licensee permission to distribute the program or a work based on the program as defined in version 1 of the affero gpl under the gnu affero general public license, version 3 or any later version. Effects of cloud computing on opensource compliance. This loophole was intentionally left in version 3 of the gpl due to the fact that letting users interact with a piece of software over the network. The saas developers ubershort guide to using open source projects.
Open esignforms by yozons open esignforms is the first free and open source, web contracting software application onpremise and saas hosted. The saas loophole in gpl open source licenses whitesource. New cloud applications drive popularity of the agpl license. However, agpl affero gnu public license and gpl gnu public. 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. You do have to comply with the license by making source code for agpllicensed works available to your users, but there are no restrictions on business models for using the software or running it for others. New cloud applications drive popularity of the agpl. Both licenses have the same copyleft scope, but materially differ in one important way. If you buy into the idea that softwareasaservice is built around the delivery of a commodity offering, then you understand that real economic value and competitive advantage lie outside the functional capabilities implied by the source code, i. At first glance this would appear to offer the exact same rights as the gpl in this scenario, however you then have the protection of the agpl if the software was ever incorporated into a. The first version of the affero general public license agplv1, was published by affero, inc.
Therefore you are distributing the app if someone other. The quietly accelerating adoption of the agpl synopsys. It causes the software as a whole the proprietary and agpl 3. Saas thankfully, the agpl is working exactly as designed. My blog post are saas companies immune to open source risk. 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. Are you defending agpl and saying that proprietary saas software shouldnt use gpl code. By g0d4 floss, philosophy add comments it is supported by many that the agpl license for network services which run in a cloud brings back the fairness provision that the original gpl intended and returns the freedom that floss promises to all users and developers. 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. Agpl is a way to make ones software radically open, like dropping a nuclear bomb on someones lap and urging them to keep it. Due to its inbuilt multitenancy which allows for shared resources and shared infrastructure, saas is scalable and allows for the vendor to take advantage of true economies of scale, reducing overall operational costs and.
Using full gpl libraries in software as a service saas. 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. The gnu affero general public license agpl came out in 2008, as a response to some of those changes. The article describes how during the gpl v3 discussions, there was a move to close the saas loophole by including some of the provisions of the affero general public license or agpl. The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. Mix and match the gplv3 and gnu agpl can be mixed and matched to some extent, allowing developers working on a project under one to combine it with code released under the other. What agpl does on top of gpl is the redefinition of user. You may have already heard of this open source license, but if not, here are a few things every saas company needs to know about the afferro gpl or agpl at least from the perspective of. This license explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified program. In the agpl license, saas is considered distribution and requires you to provide your users access to your source code. Yep, this license requires that if provide the agpld code over a. Please read the full text of the agpl license agreement from the fsf web site. It is nearly identical to the gpl but was designed to impose significant conditions when the covered software is. Affero gpl finally closes the saas loophole who cares.
The free software foundation on monday published the gnu affero general public license version 3, a version of the gnu gplv3 designed specifically for networkoriented free software. In my opinion and ianalianyl, you can publish your modified extension under agpl without having to openlylicense your entire software stack unless your browser extension is sufficiently tightlyintegrated with your saas stack that the two are part of a single, larger work. Saas, as an allinclusive business architecture, is a value delivery method rather than a software delivery method. The agpl was drafted as a solution to the problem that the. Other than that, the license is virtually the same as gpl v3. Not only has the open source initiative osi largely contained the long feared issue of license proliferation, the industry has essentially consolidated around a few reasonably well understood models. This means that there is no problem with using lgpl libraries in a closedsource saas project. The fsf recommends the gnu agpl for any software that is commonly run over a network. When the copyleft agpl was first published, many leaders in the open source community had something to say about the issue of a supposed loophole in the gpl open source license that allowed saas companies to integrate gpl open source libraries without sharing their code. In many settings, open source licensing today is considered a solved problem. Saass means that users use someone elses web server to do their own computing.
Can i commercialise an agpllicensed code by running it on. The gnu affero general public license version 3 agplv3 is a copyleft license nearly identical to the gplv3. The agpl says recipients of the software have unlimited permission to run the software, but users of your service are a different category from recipients of the software. Since the emergence of cloud solution providers like amazon, rackspace, ibm and microsoft, software development and deployment is increasingly taking place in the cloud. Dont believe the hype, agpl open source licensing is. While open source software may be free to use, that does not mean it is free of. The agplv3 is based on version 3 of the gpl but includes an additional terms to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source code for that program. Using gpl software to provide saas, therefore, is not considered distribution or conveying under either version of gpl. The saas developers ubershort guide to using open source. The gnu affero general public license 3 agpl is a special license in the family of open source licenses, creating risks and opportunities that do not exist with most other open source licenses. The only exception i found to this was the agpl, which has language that states if you use an agpl library to drive a networked service, then the code that works with the. The affero general public license affero gpl and informally affero license is a free software license. Its also a way to keep the big clouds of the world from turning one.
This means that there is no problem with using l gpl libraries in a closedsource saas project. Companies had started shifting towards the aforementioned third way of selling software, softwareasaservice saas rather than products. This requires them to send their data to the server, which does their computing for them and sends the results back to them. As the software industry increasingly moves to a software as a service saas model, fabrizio capobianco right of funambol writes, the agpls closing of the asp loophole will become a. Gplv3 and software as a service by brett smith contributions published on mar 29, 2007 09. User account licenses, in an agpl saas app open source stack. Why dash uses the mit license and not a copyleft gpl. Gplv3 and software as a service free software foundation. A good example of agplsaas is scylladb nosql database offered by compose, an ibm company that does database asaservice dbaas. I am a former employee of scylla they do good work and provide a good example of enterprisefriendly agpl usage. Effects of cloud computing on opensource compliance by diana cooper. Cloud computing saas licenses is agpl the solution. Does this prohibit software licensed under bsd and agpl. In this case, and for all licenses, as long as the code is used internally, nothing is distributed.
The gnu affero gpl does not address the problem of service as a software substitute saass. Open source license aber law firm software attorney. Yozons was the first to create an entirely webbased esignature platform no need for digital certificates, plugins, etc. Gnu affero general public license gnu project free. Squares terms of service forbid use of agpllicensed. 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. Agpl fixes this loophole in gpl by saying that if you use the software over a network, you are bound by the copyleft. Cloudtweaks open source software in cloud applications. It meant that big companies were circumventing the gpls distribution requirement. But you dont give us any particular reason to suspect this.
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. What you have to watch out for are libraries that have an agpl affero gpl licence. For a significant period of time after the introduction of this license in late 2007,4. What is the difference between gpl, agpl and lgpl licenses. If you use agpl d code or modified code in your saas offering, you need to make the source code available.
The agpl affero general public license continues to gain in popularity. Copyleft licenses such as the gpl, which require users who would distribute the software. Open source licensing basics unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully controlled by artifex. On the other hand, if you change the code to provide a service to others, for example by offering a service in saas mode, you enter the license scope and are required to distribute the source code to your users under the agpl license. Explanation about agpl license projeqtor free project. Yep, this license requires that if provide the agpl d code over a network, you must make the source code available unlike the gpl where if you modify the code but do not provide it externally i. The vast majority of all ghostscript development is done by artifex engineers, and on rare occasions, bug fixes accepted from outside contributors under license by artifex.
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