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I posted this over /r/StallmanWasRight and I am not sure it would be taken well at /r/Rust so here we are.

I have been getting into Rust in the last year but the licensing ecosystem of Rust crates makes me perplexed.

Today I came along this project https://github.com/uutils/coreutils that is trying to rewrite GNU coreutils in Rust and it is likely over the years projects like this one will overshadow many of the legacy GNU projects.

They are almost all made on “permissive” licenses that will give so much more power to corporations, in fact I am absolutely sure all these (big) rewrites are sponsored by corporations to escape the GNU safeguards that were built to protect users and society.

Does anyone else see this or am I just too paranoid ?

EDIT: It is not my intention to single out any specific project/team. Instead, I aim to initiate a meaningful discussion regarding the licensing choice. Rust is likely the first language since C that holds the capability to effectively replace the decades old, legacy libraries.

  • anlumo@feddit.de
    54·
    1 year ago

    The GPL is also incompatible with modern appstores, which makes them less valuable. I personally don’t touch anything GPL for work, only for hobby projects.

        • nous@programming.dev
          5·
          1 year ago

          That only talks about the Apple app store licence. Not App stores in general. All depends on the licence they impose on the apps. Flatpak, snap, flathub for instance are all app stores that distrabute lots of opensource code, some of which if GPL.

          • anlumo@feddit.deEnglish
            12·
            1 year ago

            Yeah, I didn’t refer to those. Google’s and Microsoft’s store have the same issue probably, though.

            • nous@programming.devEnglish
              2·
              1 year ago

              You should be specific then, you only said modern appstores which does include those I mentioned. So while some appstores are incompatible with the GPL that does not include all modern appstores. Fairly sure googles appstore has some GPL stuff on it? Not sure about microsofts. All depends on their license. IMO best not to assume everyone is as restrictive as Apple is.

              • anlumo@feddit.deEnglish
                0·
                1 year ago

                I’m fairly hesitant to call something that doesn’t sell anything a “store”.

                • nous@programming.devEnglish
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  A store, as in a place to store or accumulate things. Not as in shop, a place to buy things. Seems like it is still applicable here.