Free Software catches up with Web 2.0

IN BOSTON, Massachusetts yesterday, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) published the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (GNU AGPLv3).

The AGPLv3 is a new licence based upon the GPLv3, with the additional term that allows users who interact over a network with software licenced under the AGPLv3 to receive the source code for the program. The FSF's objective in releasing the AGPLv3 is to foster the growth of communities for the development and use of network oriented free software.

The FSF explained the rationale for the AGPLv3 in a press release:

"The GNU GPL allows people to modify the software they receive, and share those modified versions with others, as long as they make source available to the recipients when they do so. However, a user can modify the software and run the modified version on a network server without releasing it. Since use of the server does not imply that people can download a copy of the program, this means the modifications may never be released. Many programmers choose to use the GNU GPL to cultivate community development; if many of the modifications developed by the programs users are never released, this can be discouraging for them. The GNU AGPL addresses their concerns. The FSF recommends that people consider using the GNU AGPL for any software which will commonly be run over a network."

The GPLv3 and AGPLv3 are compatible licences. Software written under either licence may be freely combined with software released under the other licence, in most circumstances. As the FSF describes it:

"Both GPLv3 and the GNU AGPL allow developers working on a project under one license to combine it with code released under the other. As a result, programmers who want to use the GNU AGPL for their own work can take advantage of the many libraries and other source files available under GPLv3. Developers working on GPLv3-covered projects will often be able to use modules under the GNU AGPL with minimal hassle as well, since the GNU AGPL's additional term has no requirements for software that doesn't interact with users over a network."

Benjamin Mako Hill, a FSF board member, is quoted to have said, "The GNU GPL has been the most successful free software license because it makes a program's source available to its users. This enables massive collaboration between developers, since everyone gets the same benefits from this rule. The GNU AGPL will enable the same kind of cooperation around web services and other networked software."

Thus will free software go viral out over the interwibble in the brave new Web 2.0 world. µ

L'INQ
Free Software Foundation