taler-merchant-demos

apsl.html (5643B)

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 <title>FSF's Opinion on the Apple Public Source License (APSL)
 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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 <h2>FSF's Opinion of the Apple Public Source License (APSL) 2.0</h2>
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 <p>The Apple Public Source License (APSL) version 2.0 qualifies as a free
 software license.  Apple's lawyers worked with the FSF to produce a
 license that would qualify.
 The <a href="/philosophy/historical-apsl.html">problems previously
 described on this page</a> are still potential issues for other
 possible licenses, but they do not apply to version 2.0 of the APSL.
 We encourage everyone who uses any version of Apple Software under the
 APSL to use the terms of version 2.0 rather than that of any earlier
 license.</p>
 
 <p>In version 2.0 of the APSL, the definition of &ldquo;Externally
 Deployed&rdquo; has been narrowed in a way that is appropriate for the
 respect of users' freedoms.  It has always been the position of FSF
 that the freedom of Free Software is primarily for the users of that
 software.  Technologies, like web applications, are changing the way
 that users interact with software.  The APSL 2.0, like
 the <a href="/licenses/agpl.html">GNU Affero GPL</a>, seeks
 to defend the freedom of those who use software in these novel ways,
 without unduly hindering the users' privacy nor freedom to use the
 software.</p>
 
 <p>The FSF now considers the APSL to be a free software license with two
 major practical problems, reminiscent of the NPL:</p>
 
 <ul>
 <li>It is not a true copyleft, because it allows linking with other files 
     which may be entirely proprietary.</li>
 
 <li>It is incompatible with the GPL.</li>
 </ul>
 
 <p>For this reason, we recommend you do not release new software using
 this license; but it is ok to use and improve software which other
 people release under this license.</p>
 
 <p>Aside from this, we must remember that only part of Mac OS X is being
 released under the APSL.  Even though the fatal flaws of the APSL were
 fixed, and even if the practical problems were addressed, that does no
 good for the other parts of Mac OS X whose source code is not being
 released at all.  We must not judge all of a company by just part of what
 it does.</p>
 
 <p><a href="http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/index.php">GNU-Darwin</a> is a combination
 of GNU and Darwin that is supposed to include only free software.</p>
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 <p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
 the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
 
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 <p>Copyright &copy; 2003, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
 
 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
 
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 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
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 $Date: 2021/09/05 07:59:44 $
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