GNU Affero General Public License
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| GNU Affero General Public License | |
|---|---|
 Free Software Foundation · Public domain · source | |
| Name | GNU Affero General Public License |
| Author | Free Software Foundation |
| Introduced | 2002 |
| Latest | 3.0 |
| Status | Active |
| License | Free software license |
GNU Affero General Public License is a free software license produced by the Free Software Foundation intended to ensure freedom for users of networked software by requiring source availability when the software is accessed remotely. It builds on the GNU General Public License tradition and has been involved in debates among stakeholders such as the Free Software Foundation Europe, OSI-affiliated projects, and various corporations. Prominent figures and organizations like Richard Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, Mozilla Foundation, Red Hat, and Google have engaged with its terms in policy, litigation, and product development discussions.
History
The license originated in the early 2000s amid activism by the Free Software Foundation and advocacy from people tied to Richard Stallman and related movements, reacting to deployments of web applications by entities such as Amazon (company), Google, and Facebook that distributed functionality without distributing source. Key milestones involved draft discussions with contributors including legal scholars associated with Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and practitioners from firms like Electronic Frontier Foundation and Software Freedom Law Center. The 2002 release followed precedents set by the GNU General Public License and the Affero General Public License debates, later culminating in the 2007/2009 community process that led to version 3.0, aligning discussions with international actors including European Commission policy analysts and standards bodies like W3C.
Key Features
The license imposes a network-use obligation requiring that modified works deployed to provide services over a network must offer source code to recipients, a provision deliberated in legal contexts involving parties such as Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, and IBM. It preserves copyleft reciprocity similar to the GNU General Public License while addressing remote interaction scenarios that arose with platforms developed by groups including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Salesforce. The terms affect contributors and distributors ranging from projects at Apache Software Foundation and Eclipse Foundation to commercial entities like Canonical (company) and Docker, Inc., influencing governance choices made by foundations such as the Linux Foundation and registries administered by organizations like GitHub and GitLab. The Affero provisions were central to debates involving licensors including Creative Commons and advocates at Freedom Box and Open Source Initiative-adjacent communities.
Versions and Compatibility
Version history links the license evolution with the GNU General Public License versions and compatibility dialogues involving GPLv2, GPLv3, and projects that migrated or debated migration such as MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, and Elastic NV. Compatibility concerns have arisen in interactions with permissive licenses used by entities like MIT License adopters, BSD License projects including FreeBSD and OpenBSD, and copyleft licenses upheld by groups like Debian Project and KDE. Legal interoperability has been discussed among policymakers at institutions including United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, practitioners from Public Knowledge, and compliance teams at corporations such as Amazon Web Services and Oracle Corporation.
Legal and Compliance Issues
Compliance obligations have produced enforcement and advisory work involving organizations like the Free Software Foundation, Software Freedom Law Center, and litigators who have engaged with cases connected to companies such as Samba, MySQL AB, and firms represented by counsel from Covington & Burling. Jurisdictional considerations have involved courts in places like United States District Court for the Northern District of California, appellate bodies such as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and international forums including tribunals influenced by European Court of Justice principles. Compliance tooling and policies from vendors including Black Duck Software, WhiteSource, and initiatives at OpenChain intersect with governance practices at institutions such as MIT, Harvard University, and Stanford University.
Adoption and Notable Use Cases
Adopters range from independent projects and foundations—examples include forks and initiatives linked to MongoDB, Inc. (noting later relicensing choices), community efforts by GNU Project contributors, and deployments by companies like Red Hat and Canonical (company). Notable public-sector and institutional discussions have involved agencies such as the European Commission digital policy units and research labs at NASA and CERN, as well as civic projects like OpenStreetMap-related tooling. Commercial product teams at Elastic NV, MongoDB, Inc., Diaspora (software), and hosting services like Heroku examined the license when crafting service models, while advocacy groups including Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Software Foundation Europe have issued guidance for governments and NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch considering deployment choices.