The Affero GPL (AGPL)

[Philippe Ombredanne]

Michael Bernstein wrote:
> The web-app loophole is the main reason I don't want 
> to use the GPL for my web applications.

May I suggest the following:
If you are looking for a license that :
- has a strong reciprocity clause like the GPL,
- makes it so that an external network deployment is a akin to a
redistribution,
Then you should consider the Open Software License, which has all those
attributes, and is OSI approved.

> The one 'bug' I'm aware of in the license is the explicit mention of 
> HTTP as the transmission protocol, but this shouldn't affect it's 
> acceptability to OSI. I know it doesn't affect it's 
> acceptability to me.
The OSL does not restrict to a protocol, and protocol restriction would
be a violation of the OSD anyway, by making the AFL not technology
neutral. 
Check thy tenth commandment "License Must Be Technology-Neutral"....


-- 
Cheers
Philippe

philippe ombredanne | nexB - Open IT Asset Management 
1 650 799 0949 | pombredanne at nexb.com 
http://www.nexb.com