Hi All;
I have been talking (with the help of Patrick Ohly) to the folks at Funambol about how the AGPL section 13 (about providing source to clients [1] ) is meant to apply to e.g. client code. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.mobile.funambol.user/905 After some discussion, the FSF has updated their FAQ to address this question. http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#AGPLv3ServerAsUser I will quote the relevant text here: This should not be required in any typical server-client relationship. AGPLv3 requires a program to offer source code to “all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network.” In most server-client architectures, it simply wouldn't be reasonable to argue that the server operator is a “user” interacting with the client in any meaningful sense. Consider HTTP as an example. All HTTP clients expect servers to provide certain functionality: they should send specified responses to well-formed requests. The reverse is not true: servers cannot assume that the client will do anything in particular with the data they send. The client may be a web browser, an RSS reader, a spider, a network monitoring tool, or some special-purpose program. The server can make absolutely no assumptions about what the client will do—so there's no meaningful way for the server operator to be considered a user of that software. If one accepts this as authoritative (and yes, I realize this not obvious to everyone on debian-legal), then it would address one of the major concerns of the last round of AGPL discussion. My question is whether the interpretation of "Section 13 does not apply, unless you are using the code in Software as Service, in which case it is not so unreasonable" would be enough to qualify software [2] for debian main. If the FSF FAQ was not authoritative enough, I think upstream might be willing to attach a clarification. CC's are welcome, but not mandatory; I will followup via the archives (eventually :-) ) David [1] Here is the text of AGPL Sec. 13 for reference Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary means of facilitating copying of software. This Corresponding Source shall include the Corresponding Source for any work covered by version 3 of the GNU General Public License that is incorporated pursuant to the following paragraph. Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed under version 3 of the GNU General Public License into a single combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The terms of this License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work, but the work with which it is combined will remain governed by version 3 of the GNU General Public License. [2] I am in particular thinking about http://download.forge.objectweb.org/sync4j/funambol-cpp-api-7.0.2.zip -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]