The difference between Affero-GPL and GPLv3

Question

What is the difference between the Affero General Public License and the GNU General Public License (GPL) ?

Answer 1

Assume the following:

You are developing a server-side application in the GPL. Now this application serves HTML, not an executable file that runs directly on your computer. This means that the other guy can take the GPL code, adapt it, and not necessarily publish it. I.e. he can create an identical service using your software without violating the GPL. (Although THEN he cannot publish the software itself, i.e. sell)

Not so with AGPL.

This hole in the GPL is often called the "Application Service Provider" hole.

Find “Why AGPL” or “AGPL vs. GPL” or just read this for some real life projects that have GPL issues. MongoDB tries another interesting thing. They want people not to deploy the base database (thatwhy AGPL), but the driver that needs to be associated with the main program is apache 2.0 license, so mongoDB can be used in a commercial application.

A public web application using AGPL is listed on wikipedia .

Answer 2

See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#AGPL

The GNU Affero General Public License is based on the GNU GPL, but has an additional term that allows users who interact with licensed software over the network to obtain a source for this program. We recommend that people consider using GNU AGPL for any software that usually runs over a network.