Our License

We use the AGPLv3 license

GNU Affero General Public LicenseWikipedia

Reasons:

• We are 'Open by Default'

  • Changes have to be made open source again. Source code can’t be sold.

• Allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program

Restrictions:

• A corporation needs to be clear and provide a prominent mention and link to the original project so people that are considering to use their version of software can be aware of the original source

• If a corporation modifies the original software, they need to open source and publish their modifications by for instance contributing back to the original project

Reading

Nextcloud use case:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/how-to-choose-an-open-source-license/

The Nextcloud Web-based file-sharing suite is an AGPL-licensed project. Because it's licensed under a GPL variant, any person or company can freely download, install, and use it, either for themselves or to offer services—including paid services—to others.

All Licenses: https://opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical

Gnu Licenses: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#SoftwareLicenses

Use cases: https://raymii.org/s/blog/I_enforced_the_AGPL_on_my_code_heres_how_it_went.html

Copyleft (e.g. GPL) vs. permissive (e.g. MIT):

Permissive: “Here you are, have fun. Oh, and don’t sue me if it does something else than what you expect!”

Copyleft: “Sure, you can use it, it’s free. Just keep it free, ok?”

https://eerielinux.wordpress.com/2017/11/25/permissive-licensing-is-wrong-is-it-1-2/ https://eerielinux.wordpress.com/2018/01/25/permissive-licensing-is-wrong-no-its-not-2-2/