Sharing Source Code in the Cloud

As hosted development platforms become browser-accessible, new issues will arise regarding freely sharing source code among developers. Bungee Connect’s most recent update (April 20, 200 introduced its first (and still very early) version of a source code share. This creates a hosted code repository for Bungee Connect developers, and opens a raft of questions about the future of Free Software licenses in the age of hosted development.

Allow me to outline three code-sharing scenarios, and provide some thinking on how current open source licenses might fit:

1. Importing shared open source code would allow you as a developer to import another developer’s source code into your own code.
   This scenario could mandate that your code must now be contributed back to the original developer. For example, if the code was made available to you under the AGPL, then even without distributing the code, you are obligated to do so. However, if the imported code was made available under the GPL, then you likely don’t have to contribute the code back unless you do something to re-distribute the code you received from the share.
   From my reading of the GPL, it is specifically triggered when you “convey” the software you make with GPL-licensed code. (This was coined by Tim O’Reilly as “the SaaS Loophole.”) However, if you were then to share your own code that included the GPL software, you would be bound by the terms of the GPL to share your code under the same license. (For both GPL and AGPL code, this might get messy if you have also imported code that was shared under an incompatible licenses. But that’s nothing new in FOSS licensing, is it?)
2. Linking to shared open source code would allow you to make modifications to shared code separately and independently from whatever project you are working on. Essentially, you would be able to modify the shared code as you need, and then link to it like a library.
   It appears that there is no FOSS license that has considered this scenario! Because your application is hosted, you never “convey” your software to another party, so the GPL and LGPL don’t get triggered. On the opposite extreme, the terms of the AGPL would be applicable, as mere access to the software (rather than conveyance) applies. So, even by trying to insulate your code from the AGPL-shared code, you would still be bound by its terms. There is no Affero version of the LGPL–probably because this scenario has not been considered until very recently.
3. Linking to shared proprietary software would allow you to use another developer’s software without any access to its source code. Like a Windows DLL, you can use its APIs, but cannot modify its functionality.
   This scenario is certainly an option that many developers would want, but it’s really not that relevant to the FOSS licensing discussion, so I’ll leave it at that.

Is there need for an L-AGPL?

Likely, the most free way of sharing your code in a cloud-based code repository would be under a license similar to the BSD license, which allows other developers to take source code, use it, and modify it without an obligation to provide those modifications. Some developers find the BSD terms too liberal. If I share the software, I’d like for people to at least provide their fixes back so that I can benefit from their work as they have from mine.

The AGPL, on the other hand, may seem too draconian for some developers. I want to share my code under license to enforce the submission of fixes, improvements and extensions to my original code, but
I don’t want to force other developers to open the code for their entire project just because they included my code as a component. The AGPL would do that. So other developers may forgo using my code because I shared it under a license that is too viral.

Sound familiar? It should. It’s the same reason why many FOSS projects choose to use the LGPL instead of the GPL. But at this time, there is no L-AGPL (or A-LGPL).

What are your thoughts or insights? Are there places where my understanding of the licenses is incorrect? Is there aneed for an L-AGPL? If this seems an issue exclusive to Bungee Connect only, why do you think that?

The Emergence of Cloud-based Computing

Discovery at the great Sutter’s Mill in the sky: the age of cloud-based computing has arrived, and new entrants are appearing in the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) space each week.

The founders of Bungee Labs and creators of Bungee Connect (whose developer network I now direct) had this insight a few years ago, and set about creating a platform especially well suited to this coming age. Salesforce also had their ear to the ground ahead of the curve, introducing Force.com last fall. Heroku also offers a very slick cloud-based platform based on Ruby-on-Rails.

Last week when Google announced App Engine. Although lacking several features of a true PaaS offering (its really more a Python hosting offering with some some supporting infrastructure components), the announcement did a lot to validate the seriousness of PaaS. Across the web, it seems that bloggers now herald the new model as an emerging reality rather than an inevitable future whose time has to be determined.

Now Intuit enters with a Flex-based offering, too.

This is shaping up to have all the characteristics of a technology gold rush. Surely, there will be more entrants. If the gold rush analogy applies, all claims get staked early, some claims will prove richer than others, an economy will rapidly grow upon the initial base, and even after it normalizes again, permanent institutions will remain long after.

It most certainly will be interesting to watch unfold.

LFNW: LinuxFest Northwest

At the end of the month I’ll be back in Bellingham for my 3rd time at LinuxFest Northwest. LFNW happens to be the last independent regional Linux event on the west coast, now that the guys from Socal Linux Expo have sold their event to IDG (which was announced happened on April 1, 2008, and I believed completely).

If you’ll be there, please come to my session:

“Freedom and the Cloud: Developer Platforms meet Software as a Service”
A new wave of software development is taking shape, allowing developers to create and deploy software entirely through the browser. In this talk, Ted Haeger explains platform-as-a-service and some of the issues it raises regarding software freedom. What is the GPL’s “SaaS loophole”? How do web service providers promote or discourage the ethics of Free Software? Why does the Affero GPL matter? How does free software enable invigorate startup innovation, and what are the ethical obligations to reciprocate of the companies that use free software to build their business?

I’m Presenting at LugRadio Live USA!!

Despite rumors that may have been previously propagated by certain people of a sullied character (me), I am now coming to LugRadio Live 2008. This weekend. At the Metreon. In San Francisco.

At noon on Saturday, April 12:

“Reverend Ted’s Noon Hour Extravaganza”
or
“Freedom and the Cloud: Developer Platforms meet Software as a Service”
A new wave of software development is taking shape, allowing developers to create and deploy software entirely through the browser. In this talk, Ted Haeger explains platform-as-a-service and some of the issues it raises regarding software freedom. What is the GPL’s “SaaS loophole”? How do web service providers promote or discourage the ethics of Free Software? Why does the Affero GPL matter? How does free software enable invigorate startup innovation, and what are the ethical obligations to reciprocate of the companies that use free software to build their business?

I believe that I might also be flagged as the back-up candidate to host the Gong-a-Thong should the Mighty Aaron Bockover chicken out. (Imagine my relief when I was informed that Aaron was chosen over me…because I’m not quite as pasty.)