Niels Dettenbach (Syndicat.com) posted on Sat, 23 May 2015 08:39:36 +0200 as excerpted:
> Some > of the very large mailers today still holding on postfix usually have > developed their own strongly modified and mostly („crapped") "version" > of it (more or less giggling around GPL barriers here) - this is not > THAT postfix anymore most people get with their linux distri. ß) FWIW on those GPL barriers... and with the usual "no lawyer here" disclaimer... It's worth noting the difference between the GPL and the AGPL, the latter of which considers usage of a server-based service to be distribution of that service, thereby triggering the traditional GPL sources distribution requirements. The GPL, by contrast, normally applies only locally, making the company doing the mods the only direct user, and they normally have access to the sources already, since they're either making the mods or commissioning them, themselves. Thus it is that many cloud-based services can legally avoid the otherwise restrictions of the GPL, because they are their own user and are not considered to be distributing. But the AGPL, unlike the GPL, never really developed a following of critical mass to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. So it isn't that these providers are giggling around the GPL restrictions. Those restrictions simply don't apply to the license chosen for the apps and libs they tend to use, and if they did, because the AGPL never developed that strong an ecosystem, it's always reasonably simple to simply go with a different "open source", or even "free software" alternative. -- Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
