Brett Neumeier wrote: > I am not sure that this statement is accurate. It is. You can't write closed source software on top of an AGPL software. If you use iText in a web application, your application is linked with iText; therefore your code should also be AGPL.
See for instance the FAQ at gnu.org http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#LinkingWithGPL This is about GPL, but the same applies to AGPL. Linking iText statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on iText. Thus, the terms and conditions of the AGPL cover the whole combination. Not only AGPL is as viral as GPL, it also solves the SaaS loophole: the GPL only talks about distributing the software, the AGPL is also in effect when the software runs on a server. Moreover the AGPL allows the publisher of F/OSS to add additional restrictions. If you download iText, you also accept (see the LICENSE.txt file shipped with the source code): "Buying such a license is mandatory as soon as you develop commercial activities involving the iText software without disclosing the source code of your own applications. These activities include: offering paid services to customers as an ASP, serving PDFs on the fly in a web application, shipping iText with a closed source product." > "...if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently > offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer > network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to > receive the Corresponding Source of your version..." That's only a snippet of the complete license, isn't it? When you accept AGPL'ed software, you accept the whole license, not just the snippets you like ;-) > That suggests to me that the obligation to provide the source code is > only activated if the iText library is modified -- if the iText > library is used without any changes, then it is not a "modified > version" and so the text in section 13 does not apply. It's also not > clear to me whether this obligation would extend to the entire web > application that happens to use iText, or just to the iText library > per se. What you say was true for the MPL/LGPL, but not for the GPL/AGPL. > If I'm wrong about what the AGPL means, I hope someone will clarify > exactly what I'm missing. Reading a F/OSS license isn't my specialty too, but I did consult an attorney ;-) -- This answer is provided by 1T3XT BVBA http://www.1t3xt.com/ - http://www.1t3xt.info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOLARIS 10 is the OS for Data Centers - provides features such as DTrace, Predictive Self Healing and Award Winning ZFS. Get Solaris 10 NOW http://p.sf.net/sfu/solaris-dev2dev _______________________________________________ iText-questions mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/itext-questions Buy the iText book: http://www.1t3xt.com/docs/book.php Check the site with examples before you ask questions: http://www.1t3xt.info/examples/ You can also search the keywords list: http://1t3xt.info/tutorials/keywords/
