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Forgejo is now copyleft, just like Git (forgejo.org)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Forgejo is changing its license to a Copyleft license. This blog post will try to bring clarity about the impact to you, explain the motivation behind this change and answer some questions you might have.

...

Developers who choose to publish their work under a copyleft license are excluded from participating in software that is published under a permissive license. That is at the opposite of the core values of the Forgejo project and in June 2023 it was decided to also accept copylefted contributions. A year later, in August 2024, the first pull request to take advantage of this opportunity was proposed and merged.

...

Forgejo versions starting from v9.0 are now released under the GPL v3+ and earlier Forgejo versions, including v8.0 and v7.0 patch releases remain under the MIT license.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Unless you're selling the software or licenses to it, I don't really see a reason not to go copyleft. I mean, think about it. If someone tries to make your thing but better, they have to release the modifications, so you can grab it for yourself and suddenly you're at the same level. If they piggyback off your work, you can piggyback off theirs, and you have the advantage of being the original. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

It makes just as much sense if you're selling it!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Does it? proceeds to compile paid software and release a free package for it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Torrenting has existed for a long time, yet people still buy software. There is a lot more to software distribution than traditional product sale.

You want to have frequent fixes, compatibility with modern tools, new features and a trustworthy distribution pipeline. These are all things people and corps are willing to pay for in FOSS software.

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