I don't expect that this transition will affect me personally, but I am curious.
How does a project transition from GPLv3 to a different license, when all the existing code has already been released as GPLv3. I assume that the GPLv3 license will remain in effect for all existing code, and only new code specifically contributed by Numenta specifically identified as AGPL will be affected by this. But what about community contributed code? Do contributors have the option of choosing AGPLv3 or GPLv3? Surely Numenta cannot force the community to adopt AGPLv3 should they choose not to since Numenta is technically only a contributor (albeit the prime contributor) as well and not the "owner" of the codebase. I suppose a vote from the community to adopt AGPLv3 for all future code could be enforced by the committers - only allowing AGPLv3 code into the codebase, but this seemingly could lead to a fork of the code, which is probably not a desirable outcome at this point. Again, I do not expect that this will have any real impact on me, but in the spirit of clarity and transparency, I think response to these types of questions should be considered. Thanks, Dean On Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 10:19 AM Matthew Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello NuPIC, > > Following is a note from Numenta CEO Donna Dubinsky about a license > change we've been considering for awhile now. Please read: > > * * * > > To members of the NuPIC community… > > I’m writing you today on a likely change in direction on NuPIC > licensing going forward. I’ve discussed this direction with several > members of the NuPIC community, and would value your input as well. > You can reach me at [email protected] with any thoughts on this > subject or on licensing in general. > > When we made the decision to use the GPLv3 license several years ago, > the GPL seemed like a good fit for our needs as we were trying to > promote a community that shares their work, rather than going with a > more permissive style license that allows individuals to keep it > private. As you know, we elected to have a dual license strategy to > separately work with those individuals who wanted to build proprietary > commercial applications. > > Now, several years later, we are seeing some concern on the question > of how the GPLv3 applies to SaaS implementations (SaaS is “software as > a service”, or cloud-based implementations). We have heard from SaaS > developers who feel comfortable using the GPL but not distributing the > source. As this was not the spirit of our original licensing > selection, we are now leaning towards transitioning to the AGPLv3 > (Affero General Public License) going forward. The AGPL makes clear > that use in a SaaS implementation is also considered a distribution > and thus must fully comply with the GPL. In the last few years, we’ve > seen increasing adoption of the AGPL, used for products such as Mongo > DB. Note that the AGPLv3 is explicitly designed to be the same as the > GPLv3 with the additional of the SaaS clarification. > > Based on initial feedback, we are planning to move forward with this > change in the coming weeks. I believe that this will impact the NuPIC > community in a positive way by plugging the loophole that does not > clearly require distribution in SaaS instances. From a commercial > perspective, this change gives a clearer delineation that a commercial > license would be required for a proprietary SaaS implementation. > > Links to both licenses are below. > > Thanks for your interest and your investment of time in NuPIC. > > Donna > > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html > > * * * > > > Thanks for reading. I hope this doesn't alarm anyone. We've been > discussing this change for awhile now, and I think it is the right > thing to do. It Please let us know if you have any feedback, but the > bottom line is that this change should not affect you at all unless > you were planning on (or are currently) running NuPIC as a cloud-based > software service. You may still do this, of course, but you would need > to share your source code or come to Numenta for a commercial license. > > I am happy to discuss any concerns, questions, or comments anyone has > about this change. > > Regards, > > --------- > Matt Taylor > OS Community Flag-Bearer > Numenta > >
