[gs-devel] Ghostscript 9.07 and GhostPDL 9.07

[Chris Liddell]

On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:13:06 -0500
Scott Gifford <sgifford at suspectclass.com> wrote:

<SNIP>> 
> 
> I see in the release notes:
> 
> As of this release (9.07), Ghostscript and GhostPDL are distributed
> under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
> 
> 
> So that means that any changes to a copy of Ghostscript used on a
> server must be available to anybody using that server, right?  For
> example, if I modified Ghostscript for use on my Web server, anybody
> visiting my Web site would need to be offered access to my modified
> source code?

Yes, that's correct.
 
> That could potentially be a big change for many Ghostscript users.
> Any particular reason for the change?

Quite simply, we've seen a significant rise in the number of cases of
people and companies using server based services as a method to stay
within the letter, but not the spirit, of the standard GPL. More
specifically, doing so in a commercial setting.

Switching to the Affero GPL gives us a little more leverage in dealing
with these cases.

Chris