GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

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Copyleft · Close the hosted-service gapAGPL-3.0-only

License decision brief

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

Network copyleft extends source-sharing duties to modified versions offered as a service.

Good fit: Server software whose authors want hosted modifications returned to users as source.

Reciprocity

Over a network

Patent use

Explicitly listed

Bundled text

Abridged excerpt

Decision signal

Close the hosted-service gap

Server software whose authors want hosted modifications returned to users as source.

Watch before choosing

The network-use condition reaches deployments that ordinary distribution-only copyleft may not.

Rights, duties, and boundaries

Permissions

  • Commercial use
  • Modification
  • Distribution
  • Patent use
  • Private use

Conditions

  • License and copyright notice
  • State changes
  • Disclose source
  • Same license
  • Network use is distribution

Limitations

  • Liability
  • Warranty

Implementation identifiers

machine-readable

Source-file header

SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only

package.json

"license": "AGPL-3.0-only"

SPDX identifiers are compact, machine-readable labels. They identify the license; they do not replace the license text or the notices your distribution must carry.

Included license text

GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 19 November 2007

Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

[Abridged]

The GNU Affero General Public License is designed specifically to ensure that, in such cases, the modified source code becomes available to the community. It requires the operator of a network server to provide the source code of the modified version running there to the users of that server. Therefore, public use of a modified version, on a publicly accessible server, gives the public access to the source code of the modified version.

This repository contains an excerpt, not the complete legal instrument. Do not ship it as your LICENSE file.

Canonical SPDX text

Compare nearby choices

4
GNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0-onlyOn distributionThe UnlicenseUnlicenseNoneMIT LicenseMITNoneBSD 3-Clause 'New' or 'Revised' LicenseBSD-3-ClauseNone
FamilyCopyleft
Permissions5
Conditions5
GPL compatibleListed yes

Educational summary only—not legal advice. License compatibility depends on the exact versions, combination, distribution model, and facts of a project.