Developer Switches Default Software License to EUPL 1.2, Citing Corporate Exploitation of Permissive Licenses

Shift to EUPL 1.2

After 28 years of publishing software, a developer has adopted the European Union Public License 1.2 (EUPL 1.2) as their new default license. This marks a departure from previous licensing choices, which included LGPLv2 for projects like Midgard and MIT for JavaScript-focused work around 2011.

Motivation for Change

The primary reason for this change is the developer's view that permissive licenses, often favored in the "open source" camp, have inadvertently made it easier for large corporations to build products cheaply, without providing sufficient benefit to users or developers. The EUPL 1.2 is an OSI-approved, strong copyleft license designed to address this by requiring reciprocal licensing regardless of how the software is distributed, effectively closing the "SaaS loophole."

Implications of Strong Copyleft

By choosing a strong copyleft license, the developer intends to ensure that if corporations wish to use their software, they must adhere to the specified terms or develop their own solutions. The EUPL's availability in 23 official translations is also noted as a practical benefit, acknowledging the global nature of software development and usage outside of traditional tech hubs.

Projects Under New License

Several projects have already been released under EUPL 1.2, including reticulum-js (a JavaScript implementation of the Reticulum mesh networking protocol), dacar (a decentralized authorization system), signalk-energy-predictor (a prediction system for boats), and offshore-blogging-system (a tool for publishing blog posts and downloading weather data). A rewrite of the NoFlo Development Environment is also planned under this license.