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If one hosts a Lemmy instance, do they need to also host, and/or link to the source code even if they have made no changes to it?

Lemmy is licensed under the AGPLv3. I don’t want to rely solely on my own legal interpretation of the license, so I’m wondering if anyone has any explicit knowledge on the matter.

As an aside, am I correct in assuming that, if someone does make changes to the source code, they must host, and link to it?

EDIT (2023-09-27T22:22Z): I am just now seeing that at the bottom of a Lemmy instance’s site, there is a link that says “Code”. It appears that this is handled automatically.

TerryMathews ,

I’ll be the heretic here, but so far as I know you are only required to make source available when you distribute binaries. And for that matter, it doesn’t even have to be online just available upon request unless you’re using a derivative GPL that added online access as a clause.

I highly doubt the users of a web interface are required to be given access to source. There are multiple GPL-licensed web servers (I am well aware Apache is not btw) and I’ve never seen one embed a code link on every page.

Tl;Dr: Lemmy does it, but I believe it’s not required. Modify away if you so choose.

rglullis ,
@rglullis@communick.news avatar

AGPL has a clause that basically says “network access counts as distribution”. If you make modifications to a AGPL code which users can connect to, users should be able to have access to the source code with your changes.

vegetaaaaaaa ,
@vegetaaaaaaa@lemmy.world avatar

Lemmy is licensed under AGPL choosealicense.com/licenses/agpl-3.0/

When a modified version is used to provide a service over a network, the complete source code of the modified version must be made available.

emhl ,

But if you modify the source code you’ll probably need to link that somewhere e.g. in the sidebar

Kalcifer OP ,

I have found that instances that do seem to modify the source code just use the existing “Code” link and simply point it to their own repo instead.

emhl ,

Yeah, that would work as well

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