this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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Free and Open Source Software

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Grayjay is not Open Source (hiphish.github.io)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Today FUTO released an application called Grayjay for Android-based mobile phones. Louis Rossmann introduced the application in a video (YouTube link). Grayjay as an application is very promising, but there is one point I take issue with: Grayjay is not an Open Source application. In the video Louis explains his reason behind the custom license, and while I do agree with his reason, I strong disagree with his method. In this post I will explain what Open Source means, how Grayjay does not meet the criteria, why this is an issue, and how it can be solved.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)
  1. Non-commercial and ethical clauses. These are commonly seen attempts to restrict licenses in violation of OSD 6, “No Discrimination Against Field of Endeavor.” These types of clauses limit where, why and how the software can be used.

It's that simple. Any attempt to restrict who can use the software, and how they can use it, renders it OSD incompatible. Chiefly, with this:

  1. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
    The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, but using software is different than distributing it. Running code on my computer vs selling it.

If I tell a business, "hey, I don't like capitalism, so you can't install the software", that's very analogous to the other ethical clauses they're talking about (usually clauses that prohibit use by LEOs and military). There is a clause about redistribution (1), and it expressly specifies that it applies to "aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources", not single, standalone works.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

There is a clause about redistribution (1), and it expressly specifies that it applies to “aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources”, not single, standalone works.

That is a weird way of wording it. In practice I doubt there are any OSI-approved licenses that prohibit standalone commercial distribution. If there were, you could trivially comply by just including a "hello world" program to make it an aggregate distribution.