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0 pointsmalcolmgreaves1y ago0 comments

If you build something interacts over a network with an AGPL’d program, then you are hitting the distributing over a network clause in the license.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

inhumantsar1y ago· 2 in thread

But that only stipulates that the third party has to make the code available if they've modified it.

This is fine if you expect people to want to modify the backend, but it won't stop people who only care about cloning the service.

Which is sort of the point, good software made available to as many people as possible as cheaply as possible, but it's not really protection against others who would monetize the software you wrote.

xyzzy_plugh1y ago

I am not an IP attorney but this is undecided territory: as I understand it your integrations may be considered modifications, and thus may be subject to the terms of the license, depending on the interpretation.

satvikpendem1y ago

If Amazon can successfully do it such that other companies whose products they were hosting had to relicense to source available from AGPL, then, based on the strength of their lawyers, it is likely that those integrations are not actually needed to be released. And even if they were, it doesn't really matter, people don't use AWS for their source code.

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satvikpendem1y ago

So what? Amazon is perfectly content distributing the source code, because they don't actually modify it, only host it. That was the main issue that caused many companies to relicense to source available.

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