Re: Bug#915537: MongoDB SSPL v1 license and the DFSG
* Apollon Oikonomopoulos:
> What this section says (at least to my eyes), is that the SSPL requires
> *all software* interfacing with MongoDB to form a "service" to be
> licensed under the SSPL too. This is a much broader restriction than
> linking, but still does not seem to violate DFSG #9. It is also not a
> universal restriction, but one that is based on use/field of endeavor:
As you wrote, SSPL v2 attempts to fix this, but the practical impact
of the changes is unclear to me.
My understanding of U.S. commercial law is limited, but the term
“service” (as used in section 13) has a specific meaning, and it would
ordinarily include the procurement of pre-compiled binaries, with or
without support, and Debian's activity in relation to the software
could at the very least be considered a substitute for such commercial
services.
I explicitly asked a simple question, whether the copyright owner
wants distributions to continue to ship the software:
| Is it your goal that GNU/Linux distributions stop shipping
| pre-compiled binaries with (community) support?
<http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review_lists.opensource.org/2018-October/003654.html>
I don't think I received a reply to this question, and I have no idea
what the copyright owner wants. I find it hard to guess the answer.
Even their FAQ suggests that they expect *users* distribute their
software, not distributions.
(Personally, I think we should fork the old version and rename it.
But that's because I find the name of the software so offensive that I
refuse to write it.)
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