Re: PHPNuke license
David Turner <novalis@gnu.org> writes:
>> I have heard that the ASP phenomenon is one motivation for a GNU
>> GPL v3; I'd be very curious to know what changes the FSF is making
>> to specifically target the ASP problem.
>
> *fsf hat on*
>
> The Affero license (AGPL, http://www.affero.org/oagpl.html) should give
> you a good idea, although we of course intend to be more general in
> GPLv3. I think there's a comment address somewhere where you can mail
> your comments about the AGPL.
>
> The major change is section (2)(d), which says, in short, "If the
> program has quine-like functionality to give you a link to the running
> source code, you can't remove it."
Oh my God, what a Horror that will be. So if I take a webserver and
hack in a poorly written database interface with a hardcoded password,
I'd have to reveal that password to all users. Essentially, this is a
prohibition on poorly-done modifications... that's enough reason for
me to stop releasing code under "version 2 or later" of the GNU GPL:
the persistent spectre that future versions will prohibit certain
sorts of functional modifications.
Wouldn't a requirement that if you make the software available for use
to another party, you provide an offer of source to those users make
much more sense, and avoid entanglements with the function of the
software?
-Brian
--
Brian T. Sniffen bts@alum.mit.edu
http://www.evenmere.org/~bts/
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