Aether at 17:48, 2 August 2011

2011-08-02T17:48:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:48, 2 August 2011
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	project. Since we don't currently have any branding, this is an		project. Since we don't currently have any branding, this is an
	open issue, but we're thinking we'll go with a CC BY-SA license.		open issue, but we're thinking we'll go with a CC BY-SA license.


	----		----


	By licensing in this way, we make sure that users of the software		By licensing in this way, we make sure that users of the software

Aether: separated as per design decisions page, not sure about preamble part?

2011-08-02T17:47:49Z

separated as per design decisions page, not sure about preamble part?

New page

==Software==
The [http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html AGPL v3]preserves the freedoms guaranteed by the GPL v3 in the context of software as a service. Using this license ensures that users of the service have the ability to examine the source,
deploy their own instance, and implement their own version. This is really important to us and a core mission component of this project. Thus we decided that the software parts should be under this license.
==Content==
However, the project is made up of more than just software:
There's CSS, images, and other output-related things. We wanted
the templates/images/css side of the project all permissive and
permissive in the same absolutely permissive way. We're waiving
our copyrights to non-software things under the [http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ CC0] waiver.
==Templates==
That brings us to the templates where there's some code and some
output. The template engine we're using is called Jinja2. It
mixes HTML markup with Python code to render the output of the
software. We decided the templates are part of the output of the
software and not the software itself. We wanted the output of the
software to be licensed in a hassle-free way so that when someone
deploys their own GNU MediaGoblin instance with their own
templates, they don't have to deal with the copyleft aspects of
the AGPLv3 and we'd be fine with that because the changes they're
making are identity-related. So at first we decided to waive our
copyrights to the templates with a CC0 waiver and then add an
exception to the AGPLv3 for the software such that the templates
can make calls into the software and yet be a separately licensed
work. However, Brett brought up the question of whether this
allows some unscrupulous person to make changes to the software
through the templates in such a way that they're not bound by the
AGPLv3: i.e. a loophole. We thought about this loophole and
between this and the extra legalese involved in the exception to
the AGPLv3, we decided that it's just way simpler if the templates
were also licensed under the AGPLv3.

==Documentation==
Then we have the licensing for the documentation. Given that the
documentation is tied to the software content-wise, we don't feel
like we have to worry about ensuring freedom of the documentation
or worry about attribution concerns. Thus we're waiving our
copyrights to the documentation under CC0 as well.

==Branding==
Lastly, we have branding. This covers logos and other things that
are distinctive to GNU MediaGoblin that we feel represents this
project. Since we don't currently have any branding, this is an
open issue, but we're thinking we'll go with a CC BY-SA license.

----

By licensing in this way, we make sure that users of the software
receive the freedoms that the AGPLv3 ensures regardless of what
fate befalls this project.

So to summarize:

* software (Python, JavaScript, HTML templates): licensed
:under AGPLv3
* non-software things (CSS, images, video): copyrights waived
:under CC0 because this is output of the software
* documentation: copyrights waived under CC0 because it's not part
:of the software
* branding assets: we're kicking this can down the road, but
:probably CC BY-SA

This is all codified in the ``COPYING`` file.

[[Category:DesignDecisions]]

Why AGPLv3 and CC0 - Revision history

Aether at 17:48, 2 August 2011

Aether: separated as per design decisions page, not sure about preamble part?