4

I heard the term GPL leakage mentioned very recently in a presentation from a well qualified speaker from MongoDB at an event for developers & integrators in the cloud computing market. I've never heard this term anywhere else, but the audience seemed to follow what he was saying, suggesting this might be an institutional issue.

The context was that cloud computing providers might be providing database implementations to include MongoDB (itself open source, AGPL v3.0) as well as their own software. I can imagine some of the legal implications of this, but only vaguely... so would appreciate generally what's meant by this term and/or whatever institutional problem it suggests: preferably with an example.

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    I'm guessing that the speaker was referring to the viral nature of the GPL. – RubberDuck Jun 15 '16 at 11:22
  • Then a more common synonym might be virality (although Wikipedia marks it as pejorative) indicating that derivative works are also GPL'd. I searched for mongodb gpl derivative work which turns up the popular thread AGPL - what you can do and what you can't with a lot more background info, including a link MongoDB: The AGPL which details the solution the speaker could have been suggesting. – rphair Jun 15 '16 at 14:42
  • @rphair I'm a little unsure but does what you've commented here answer your question? If so you should post it as an answer :) (expand on it a little though) – Tim Malone Jun 16 '16 at 7:54
  • @tim-malone I will if no other answers by end of week, though it's not my field either as a vendor or a legal expert, so waiting a couple more days in case that manifests... – rphair Jun 16 '16 at 12:22
  • I cannot resist the joke: Per wikipedia: "Liquefied petroleum gas ([is] also called LPG, GPL, LP Gas, or autogas) " .... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_fuel_cell_terms ... So a GPL leakage is really a gas leak. – Philippe Ombredanne Jun 22 '16 at 20:30
6

This term's current unavailability on Internet search suggests it was improvised by the speaker according to a negative association with the GPL that listeners would have recognised.

The use of the term Viral license (marked as pejorative by Wikipedia) is discouraged because it focuses on the vulnerabilities rather than the protection offered by open source licensing agreements. Yet it is probably the best short synonym (part of speech aside) for "leakage" and refers to this licensing quality:

... allows derivative works only when permissions are preserved in modified versions of the work.

which provokes the worry over software vendors' own additions to GPL software also being freely redistributable under the GPL license. MongoDB is a good test case of this idea because of practical licensing situations for which they & others discuss some problems and solutions:

which provide specific examples as requested by the OP.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.