librariesio / license-compatibility

:copyright: Check compatibility between different SPDX licenses
https://libraries.io/github/librariesio/license-compatibility
MIT License
34 stars 5 forks source link

Classify OSLs as network-copyleft licenses #47

Closed kemitchell closed 6 years ago

kemitchell commented 6 years ago

For example, Section 5 of OSL-3.0 reads:

5) External Deployment. The term "External Deployment" means the use, distribution, or communication of the Original Work or Derivative Works in any way such that the Original Work or Derivative Works may be used by anyone other than You, whether those works are distributed or communicated to those persons or made available as an application intended for use over a network. As an express condition for the grants of license hereunder, You must treat any External Deployment by You of the Original Work or a Derivative Work as a distribution under section 1(c).

Section 1(c) contains the condition that makes OSL a copyleft license:

c) to distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work and Derivative Works to the public, with the proviso that copies of Original Work or Derivative Works that You distribute or communicate shall be licensed under this Open Software License; [emphasis mine]

In some ways, OSL is even broader than AGPL. For example, OSL's copyleft condition triggers on provision of the Original Work, with or without modification.

andrew commented 6 years ago

thanks!