Affero General Public License

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GNU Affero General Public License

The GNU logo
Author Free Software Foundation
Version 3
Copyright Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Published 2007-11-19
DFSG compatible  ?
Free software Yes
OSI approved Yes
GPL compatible Yes
Copyleft Yes
Linking from code with a different license No

The GNU Affero General Public License or GNU AGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. The GNU AGPL is similar to the GNU General Public License, except that it has an additional section to cover use over a computer network. It closes what is commonly known as the Application service provider loophole of the GNU General Public License. The additional section requires that the complete source code be made available to any network user of the AGPLed work, typically a web application. For the legally precise description see the external link at the end of the article.

The Free Software Foundation recommends that this license is considered for any software that will commonly be run over the network[1].

Note that GNU Affero General Public License is not the same legal document as the Affero General Public License, though they are quite similar in intent and effect.

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[edit] History

In 2000, while developing an e-learning and e-service business model, Henry Poole met with Richard Stallman in Amsterdam where they discussed the ASP loophole in the GPLv2. Over the following months, Stallman and Poole discussed approaches to solving the problem. In 2001, Poole founded Affero, Inc. (a web services business), and he needed a license that would require distribution by other organizations who used their code to create derivative web services. At that time, Poole contacted Bradley M. Kuhn and Eben Moglen of the Free Software Foundation to get advice on a new license that would close the ASP loophole in the GPLv2.

Moglen suggested to Poole that a slight modification to the GPLv2 - one that would require a download source feature be maintained in derivative works - would provide a solution. Moglen provided Poole with the language for the modification. Poole then requested and received permission from the FSF to publish a derivative of the GPLv2 for this purpose. In March 2002, Poole published the Affero General Public License for use on the Affero project and made it available for other software as a service developers.

Originally, the license designers contemplated including the special aspects of the Affero license into GPLv3, but ultimately the FSF decided to publish a separate license. The name Affero was kept, however, and the new license was dubbed the GNU Affero General Public License. It was given version number 3 for parity with the GPL, and the current GNU Affero General Public License is usually abbreviated AGPLv3.[citation needed]

Stet was the first software system known to be released under the GNU AGPLv3 (on November 21, 2007).[2]

Widely used GNU AGPL-licensed projects include the UK Prime Minister's petitions website.[3]

[edit] Relationship with the GPL

While the AGPL was initially written with the approval of the Free Software Foundation — the organization behind the GPL — the additional requirements of the license make it incompatible with the GPL version 2. This means that components covered by each license cannot be combined into a single work.

Subsequently, the Free Software Foundation has taken over maintenance of the Affero General Public License and renamed it the GNU Affero General Public License (version 3). The GPL version 3 includes a clause (section 13) that explicitly allows linking software licensed under GPLv3 with AGPLv3.[4]

To establish an upgrade path from Affero's AGPLv1 to FSF's AGPLv3, Affero, Inc. published the AGPLv2, which is merely a transitional license that allows licensees who have software under "AGPLv1 or any later version as published by Affero, Inc" to move to FSF's AGPLv3.

The finalized version of AGPLv3[5] was published by the Free Software Foundation on November 19, 2007.

[edit] Compatibility with other licenses

The AGPL is compatible with the GNU General Public License version 3 in that developers of programs licensed under the AGPL can use libraries or code released under GPLv3. Under certain conditions, developers of programs licensed under GPLv3 are also able to use libraries or code released under the AGPL, since this license doesn't add any specific requirement for software that doesn't interact with users over the network.

[edit] See also

Free software Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ List of free-software licences on the FSF website: “We recommend that developers consider using the GNU AGPL for any software which will commonly be run over a network”.
  2. ^ Kuhn, Bradley (2007-11-21). stet and AGPLv3. Software Freedom Law Center. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
  3. ^ UK Prime Minister's petitions website FAQ. “the software behind this petitions site is open source, and available to you under the GNU Affero GPL software license. You can download the source code (look under 'pet') and help us develop it. You're welcome to use it in your own projects, although you must also make available the source code to any such projects.”
  4. ^ The GNU General Public License - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
  5. ^ "License text of AGPLv3 - GPLv3", Free Software Foundation (US), 2007-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-11-19. 

[edit] External links


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