Re: Is AGPLv3 DFSG-free?
On Wed, 03 Sep 2008, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
> 2008/9/3 Don Armstrong <don@debian.org>:
> > On Wed, 03 Sep 2008, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
> >> > The AGPL requires access to source to occur at the time of use,
> >> > which is more difficult.
> >>
> >> Why? You just have to put a link somewhere "source here".
> >
> > And the link has to go to somewhere where the source actually exists.
> > Try doing that currently for a package and all of the package's
> > recursive dependencies which was in testing 3 months ago, but has
> > since been superseded.
>
> I swear I'm not being purposely dense, but I honestly don't understand
> how this is any different than the way Debian handles distributing
> source for all other packages.
We only distribute source at the instant we distribute the binary. We
(generally[1]) don't distribute the source after we've stopped
distributing the binary. The AGPL requires distribution of source at
any time that the application is used. The GPL does not.
This is part and parcel of the ASP loophole that the AGPL is trying to
close, and the very reason that the AGPL exists in the first place.
> Are you saying the burden is going to be in updating those links
> that say where to get the source, making the patchwork for packaging
> AGPL software more tedious? The GPL says three years, right?
No, the path through the GPL that we use says "equivalent access." (We
distribute binaries under 6d precisely so our mirror operators do not
have to deal with the tedious bookkeeping of satifying 6c.)
[I really recommend reading the GPL and AGPL strongly; it's a
necessary pre-requisite for any discussion of them.]
Don Armstrong
1: There are probably some exceptions out there; ISTR archive.d.o only
having source in some cases.
--
The computer allows you to make mistakes faster than any other
invention, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila
-- Mitch Ratcliffe
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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