Notices by FOSS Unleashed (fossunleashed@social.linux.pizza)

@bagder I feel like there needs to be tools that make safer handling of Unicode easier. Anyone know of the full list of Unicode ranges? I know there are some sites that give partial ones. But I'd like the information needed to detect "this sentence contains Unicode characters consistent with language X" vs "this sentence contains Unicode characters for 45 different languages"

@amszmidt Read it again then

@amszmidt You have argued against points I have not made

@fdavies93 I've heard other people mention that the SSPL is likely not enforceable. I am also not a lawyer, and if that's the case, that's a valid criticism of it. But it's not the one people bring up when lambasting companies for using the SSPL.

Hot Take: The misinformation about the SSPL needs to stop.

If you disagree with the SSPL, that's fine.

But if you argue against what you think what the SSPL is, rather than what it actually is, you are actively harming the FOSS community.

The SSPL is based on the AGPL (Edit: It's actually based on the GPLv3). MongoDB (the company) has a nice little difference PDF that you can read. https://webassets.mongodb.com/_com_assets/legal/SSPL-compared-to-AGPL.pdf

The OSI says the SSPL is not Open Source. I understand their reasoning, and that's their prerogative. But I think this call was more harmful than it was beneficial.

The FSF said they'd look into the SSPL and make a comment, it's been a long while and they've been silent on the matter. Claims that the SSPL is not a Free Software license are false. Note that I'm also not making a claim that the SSPL is a Free Software license, because that equally lacks evidence.

I appreciate that people *really* do not like the requirements for Section 13. That's fine, if that's your beef with the SSPL, then say that instead of spreading falsities. I *really* don't like it when software fails to provide Freedom 3. I prefer copyleft licenses over permissive licenses. Some people prefer licenses that allow people to close the source later, I disagree with that.

Can we please just argue against realities, instead of fantasies? Thank you.

#FOSS #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #GPL #AGPL #SSPL

@fdavies93 I never said the SSPL was an Open Source license. The main distinction between what's Free Software, and what's Open Source is the copyleft-ness of the license. The SSPL, specifically in the section you quoted, amplifies the copyleft-ness of the license, which makes me believe that it *is* a Free Software license, and the reason the FSF has been radio silent after saying they'd make a judgement is that they didn't want the backlash against the SSPL to be focused on them, even if they would otherwise have agreed with it. (Note I did not say that is is a Free Software license, only that I believe it to be one)