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Re: Is AGPLv3 DFSG-free?



On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 6:03 AM, Miriam Ruiz <miriam@debian.org> wrote:

Some of the problems might be important anyway. I'll sum up my
personal concerns. Say I want to create a 3D virtual world based on
the IRC network, using PySoy as the base framework for that, PySoy
being AGPLv3 will force me to:
1) Either not being able to modify the source code or
2) Spam everyone I interact with, saying the client I'm using and how
to get the full source code.

The license does not say you must advertise, only that you "must prominently offer".  In your example of an IRC network, providing a source URL with CTCP VERSION requests more than sufficiently fufills this requirement.


3) Be able to notify servers in the network on how to be able to get
that source code too.

It's common on IRC for servers to grab CTCP VERSION requests as well.  Most network protocols have a mechanism similar to this, including XMPP.  Since, to activate the AGPLv3 section 13, the remote user must already be interacting with your software, a query/response pair is more than reasonable.
 

4c) Through a public server, having to identify myself (thus, I
wouldn't be able to remain anonymous)

Current free VCS solutions do not require you to identify yourself with your legal identity, many people publish code under an alias/monkier, and the license requires nothing to the contrary.  Of course I've said this already.


5) Have legal problems in countries in which my program might not be
legal, by providing having to provide it to people there, as I might
be interacting with people in that country. Example: My 3D irc has
support for encrypted connections, I might be chatting with people
from other countries in which encryption might be forbidden. License
is forcing me to commit a crime in that country.

This is no different from with the GPL.  You just can't work on the cryptographic parts of the code, and are thus not in a requirement to distribute those parts.  Note that the Corresponding Source is every dependency your software uses, the GPL doesn't require you to distribute every dependency, only the parts you've modified.  The AGPLv3 is no different.
 
Replying to you seems to be moot, however, since it doesn't appear that you're reading replies, only continuing to repeat your beliefs untainted by dialog/debate.  We've been over all of this in this thread.


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