Elgg Licensing
TL;DR: How to accomodate Thematic Networks' SAAS setup with community-oriented free software development?
The context
Elgg core is released under a dual-license that provides compatibility with AGPLv3+ and GPLv3+ free-software-friendly development. But Elgg core plugins, such as groups, are released under an exclusive GPLv2 license that is incompatible with the above-mentioned licenses.
The problem
That situation leads to a conflict of interest between one of the copyright holders, Thematic Networks, that offers the "Software As A Service" proprietary platform Elgg.com, and the free software community willing to distribute freedom-friendly code under the (A)GPLv3+ licenses.
Solutions
This discussion is to gather community feedback regarding potential solutions that accommodate all parties. Among the possibilities already mentioned in various issues on Github:
- change Elgg's license to GPLv2-or-later in the 2.0 release
- include core plugins into the MIT(X11) release
- rewrite core plugins and release them under (A)GPLv3
hellekin and iionly are correct--the requirment to release source when using code as a service is a distinction in the AGPL license, which isn't being considered. I was wrong about that part of the GPL3.
The rest still applies--This is a time sink for our brains and our time right now.
why we required this license like AGPL , GPL etc ........
Steve Clay "@Liang Please keep your comments constructive."
-- I think Liang Lee is making a valid point? Or raising an issue I myself was wondering about.
@BrianF I agree somewhat with his sentiment (I hate thinking about licensing and I don't think about it much), but that does not mean we should express that sentiment in a serious discussion about people's problems with the license. Back in the real world license has a huge impact. Our MIT license means we have to reinvent the wheel in a lot of areas where otherwise we could borrow from Drupal, WordPress, and many others. Very frustrating.
@Steve - I prefer to think of it as *their* gplv2 license that forces us into such a situation ;)
@Evan, yes agreed.
@steve i think he is adding his 2 cents, I'm trying to figure out why it's non-constructive to point out Elgg is opensource ?
I no longer understand the purpose of starting a thread on Elgg, or participating. I thought it was for the purpose of collectively sharing insights.
I'll find an answer for the question he raised on another forum. Sorry if I'm also being non-constructive.
I have a question about the GPL licenses and I'm kinda confused. What if I, let's say fork elgg, and create a product to offer for anyone, would I have to give the code or something like that?
http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/License
A related point: If i understand https://github.com/Elgg/Elgg/blob/master/_graphics/SPRITES_LICENSE.TXT correctly then probably many pleople are violating this licence. --> IMHO: Goal should be: Make the Elgg licence as simple to understand and use as possible. So no AGPL, no different licences for different parts. As other communities had these discussions as well a look over to Drupal might help. https://drupal.org/licensing/faq
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