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?

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.)

Brother Jono on The Bungee Line

After a brief hiatus, Alex and I finally got back in the studio to create another edition of our fledgling podcast for web developers, The Bungee Line. This one features an interview with my friend and fellow miscreant, Jono Bacon.

Why would a web developer-focused podcast want to interview a Linux community leader? Well, if you’re interested in the joys and challenges of managing developer communities–and you are, trust me–then there is likely no better case study than that of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is perhaps the most popular Linux distribution available today, and it has a vast community of developers that contribute to it. For a year and a half (or so), Jono has been spearheading the community program for Ubuntu, and his experience in managing such a large and widely distributed community of developer certainly bears relevance.

Oh, and there’s also the part that unlike many people we approach to come one the show, his standards aren’t very high.

Deploy Hello World in 3 minutes 30 seconds

Bungee Labs makes the claim on www.bungeeconnect.com that you can have a Hello World app built and deployed in less than 10 minutes.

I tried it. It took me less than a third of that time: 3:30.

Ogg Theora (21 MB)    QuickTime (37 MB)

Screencast of Socal Linux Expo Presentation

As services and software start to move more and more into the cloud–the emerging domain of service providers hosting not just storage or virtual machines, but the actual code for web applications–some very interesting question arise:

• How does sharing code become easier?
• How can you provide developers maximum control over their creations?
• How will source code licenses work?
• How will the next generation of platform providers balance between security and confidentiality of their developer/users on the one hand, and the increased value that many developers place on using open systems?

These are the kind of questions that my company Bungee Labs is wrestling with, and I recently took a stab at presenting some of our current, early thinking in this area in my presentation at Socal Linux Expo.

The presentation was received quite well by the audience of some 30 people, so I took the time to assemble the slides and audio, and stitch them together with some screencast videos

Since SCaLE is a Free Software-friendly event, the image is linked to a Theora (.ogg) video file.

Video Stats

Run time: 55:51

Theora: 114MB

QuickTime: 150MB

If the file sizes are inconvenient for you, my apologies. I don’t have the best of video editing/encoding facilities at my disposal.

Please let me know if you find any issues in getting or viewing the video. Also, I am very interested in feedback regarding our current thinking regarding licensing.

Related Links

• Bungee Connect Terms & Agreements
  • You own your code. (Bungee Connect Developer Agreement)
  • Software Sharing in the Cloud (Publishing Licenses)
• SaaS Loophole References & Relevant Reading:
  • “Open Source Licenses are Obsolete” , Tim O’Reilly, August 01, 2006
  • “The GPL Has No (Networked) Future”, Bryan Richard, March 29, 2007
  • “The GPL and Software as a Service”, Tim O’Reilly, July 12, 2007
  • “GPL v3 Not a Concern For Google”, Sean Michael Kerner, March 29, 2007
  • GNU General Public License 3 (GPLv3)
  • GNU Affero General Public License 3 (AGPLv3)
• Lock-in Considerations
  • “Free But Shackled: The Java Trap”, Richard Stallman, April 12, 2004
  • Bungee FAQ (see “Exporting or Leaving Bungee Connect”)

A brief MindTouch (Deki Wiki) Demo

At Socal Linux Expo, I met some of the guys from MindTouch, makers of Deki Wiki. They showed me around their REST API, so I quickly jinned up a small app to use in my presentation. It’s a really simple app that calls their search AP, displays a results list, and allows you to add individual results to a favorites list.

The app took me about 1 hour to develop and deploy, so there are not a whole lot of features. Nevertheless, there are some cool interactions that you can do, such as drag-and-drop from results to favorites (double-clicking works, too), and using the delete key to remove from the favorites list.

If you’re interested to making some customizations with Deki Wiki, drop me a line (ted at bungeelabs) and I’ll give you access to the source code.

Interviewed at Socal Linux Expo

SCaLE6 conference organizer, Orv Beach, interviewed me at this weekend’s big event in Los Angeles.

I speak in the interview about the switch from a large Linux distributor to working for a small startup, and some of what I have been doing at Bungee Labs over the past year.

Fun with GroupWise in Bungee Connect

In my quest to learn how to develop software in Bungee Connect, I decided to use the SOAP service for Novell GroupWise. I chose to use GroupWise as a reference platform for two reasons. First, the SOAP API for GroupWise has all the sophistication you could want: multiple levels of object inheritance, and its scope is comprehensive to say the least. (I wish I had understood that when I was in charge of marketing for GroupWise!) Second, nine years of working at Novell left me knowing how GroupWise works, so I would know when I actually got something to work.

Here’s a video of the project I am working on, available in patent-encumbered mpeg4, and freedom-loving Xiph (Ogg).If you would like access to my source code, drop me a line. I’m happy to provide you with the code and guidance on developing in Bungee Connect.

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–T

SCaLE6: Returning to Socal Linux Expo

Once again I will be presenting at Socal Linux Expo. Each SCaLE so far has been a great show, and this 6th year promises to be excellent. Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon is keynote speaker this year (co-presenting with his beard), and his presentations are quite entertaining (even for denizens of Los Angeles, who are accustomed to seeing the occasional massive traffic accident). So if you’re in the Los Angeles area, come on down and check it out.

This year my presentation is about startups and open source, using case-in-point company, Bungee Labs. They booked me last in line on Sunday afternoon, so if you’re going, please hang out to the very end.

Drop me a line if you’d like to chew the fat, and whatnot.

Wanted: Full-time Developer Evangelists for Bungee Connect

As 2008 rolls in, I will begin to build my team of technical evangelists for Bungee Connect.

Successful evangelists all share this trait: they are passionate about helping others connect and succeed with technology. If you are not sure what evangelists do, you might check out this published study.

If you are interested in a career in technical evangelism and community building with Bungee Labs, then you must be familiar with how developers think, savvy about the Internet culture and etiquette norms, and have a sound theory (not hypothesis) for what makes web-based communities succeed. You must be a socially-inclined developer who enjoys engaging others in your passion for web technologies. You also must be the kind of person who can identify ways to improve outreach and effectiveness, and then roll up your sleeves and make your ideas a reality.

If this sounds like you, then check out the position announcement.

Here are a few other considerations:

• I try to hire based on aptitude and drive, not just professional experience. If you don’t have evangelism experience, and you can still sell me on why you would be good at it, then you might be exactly what we’re looking for.
• For 2008, our evangelist hires will be based in Utah, so you must be willing and able to relocate.
• I will want to know your Bungee Connect account name so I can see how much time you have spent getting to know the platform.

Bungee, Line 2

Yesterday, we launched the second part of our Bungee Labs podcast, “The Bungee Line.” Implemented as a “BCDN Audio” subfeed peer to our Feature Interviews subfeed, the first edition brings in a Bungee Labs engineer named Josh Skillings to talk about the speed and ease with which he built one of our demo applications for the debut of Bungee Connect last April at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

We also published a screen cast video along with the audio interview. If you have been wondering what this Bungee Connect thing that I am doing is all about, check out the inaugural edition for BCDN Audio.

Oauth: Standardizing Authentication for API

The most recent edition of The Bungee Line features an interview on the coolness of Oauth, an open protocol to allow secure API authentication in a simple and standard method from desktop and web applications.

We have seen a rather impressive number of downloads on this episode so far. If you develop to web APIs (or even if you are just casually interested in why, say, LinkedIn or Facebook apps ask for your Gmail username and password in order to access your contacts in Gmail) then you’ll want to check this one out.

Episode 3 of the Bungee Line: Zawodny, Part 2

Last night I posted the second half of our interview with Jeremy Zawodny. We’re starting to loosen up a bit with the show, getting a little more punchy.

Coming up, we plan to talk to one of the people at Dapper.net and someone on OAuth.

Podcasting, Once Again

In case you missed the update (which I embedded in an otherwise non-descript post), my latest podcast endeavor is now underway.

Welcome to The Bungee Line, a podcast about web API’s, featuring people involved in the space of rich Internet applications and web development. The first interview is with John Musser of ProgrammableWeb.com. The latest (just up today) features Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo! Developer Network.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about it, including what directions you think I should take this podcast. (Thanks in advance.)