drawdb-io
Licensing issue
Hi, there! I see that the project goes under AGPL license, that makes it impossible to use for free in commercial projects. At the same time I see no options for commercial use of the product, so if it is possible I need some explanation. Are there any plans to provide commercial options and, if not, is it possible to turn to some more liberal licensing model?
Hey there!
AGPL does allow commercial use you just need to open source all the modifications. And yes, I have been thinking of adding paywalled features that's why the license was changed from MIT to AGPL.
Hi! As far as I know, AGPL forces to open source combined application. So, even if I do not modify the source code of drawdb, I will have to open source the code of my commercial product. That is the whole issue
@bingo-soft IANAL and neither is https://drewdevault.com/2020/07/27/Anti-AGPL-propaganda.html but he generally knows what he's talking about. Short answer, you can use this and your app "side by side" and it's all good. If you ever modify drawdb for your own use (as a service you offer), you must also share the code of those modifications but that's it.
@millette Hi, Robin! To me it seems, like it all depends on what you mean by "derivative work". If a compound application uses some AGPL software, must we treat it as a derivative work or not? This is what ChatGPT thinks of it: "Ultimately, which interpretation to abide by might depend on the exact nature of how the AGPL-licensed code is used in your application. The conservative approach suggests treating any use as creating a derivative work, which would require open-sourcing the entire application. The more lenient interpretation confines the scope to just modifications of the AGPL code itself. Developers and organizations should carefully weigh these interpretations and, when in doubt, consult with legal professionals." Here I personally see a risk, that even if the author of AGPL library claims that it is completely open source and can be used in commercial products, so called "legal professionals" may interpret all this differently.
For example, there is a nice well-known AGPL library nextcloud. And this is what they say about their licensing policy: "Nextcloud is licensed under the GNU AGPLv3. This license only defines the rights you have to give the users of the software, but not how they get the software. You can decide freely if you want to sell the software in an app store or through any other channel, or if you want to make the app publicly available. The only requirement is that you license your app under the AGPLv3 or a compatible license.". In other words, if you create an app on top of AGPL library, you have to open source it.
For some longer discussion on derivative works and more:
- https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/6427/what-is-derivative-work-what-is-build-upon
- https://www.chapman.edu/law/_files/publications/CLR-13-joseph-chern.pdf