I am very new to linux and all the open source stuff (my first post on lemmy actually) so I don’t get how this stuff works but flathub is saying that floorp is proprietary. But after a quick google search it says that floorp is open source licensed under MPL 2.0

  • leopold@lemmy.kde.socialEnglish
    3·
    4 months ago

    It used to be open source, but large parts of it have been relicensed under their proprietary source-available shared source license. The reason why it isn’t entirely proprietary is that it’s based on Firefox, which is entirely licensed under the MPL. The weak copyleft of the MPL states that all parts lifted from Firefox must remain open source, but the new parts can be proprietary.

    Source-available licenses are a type of proprietary license where the code is made public for people to look at, but you’re not actually allowed to use it. Users can still contribute upstream, so they’re usually parasitic licenses aimed at getting free labour out of the userbase without actually giving back any code to the commons, all while keeping up the illusion of being open source. It sucks.

    • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      without actually giving back any code to the commons

      Can you explain how this works?

      Say a contributer downloads v1.1 of floorp, checks the code and makes a PR. Floop sees this and accepts the change and publishes v1.2. If a new contributer downloads floorp, they get v1.2 where they can see the previous merged PR.

      How is it that they are not giving back? I can understand that not being on a repository makes it difficult but it’s technically possible.

      • theshatterstone54@feddit.uk
        1·
        4 months ago

        The contribution is automatically relicensed under that licence and as such, it remains property of the org that made floorp, so they’re technically getting free labour, support and maintenance

      • porl@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        Now said contributor works a bit more on the project and adds some great new functionality, but floorp don’t agree it fits their plans. So the contributor decides to make their own fork called ceilingp and build from that. Nope, they don’t have the license to do so. They can take the mpl parts. They can take their own parts (they didn’t sign an exclusive release of their code). They can add their own new code. They can’t use the rest of the floorp code though.

        So floorp gets the benefits but no one else can build off it without permission (save for private use without releasing it and potentially having others do the same).

  • Affidavit@lemm.ee
    1·
    4 months ago

    A lot of outdated information. Looks like they’ve been open and closed source at different times. Most recent info I could find (from last month) states: “While Floorp wasn’t originally closed source, we plan to revert to an open-source license under the GNU definition.”

  • Icell@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    The learn more button on the Floorp’s Flathub links to a license agreement that literally states the following:

    2.5. Floorp is not completely open-source same. Floorp’s a part of codes are protected by copyright law and is not licensed under an open-source license. You may not use part of Floorp’s code in your own projects without permission from the Licensor.

    The file is 4 months old, so maybe something changed. Someone in the other comment linked a 1-month old Reddit post saying that Floorp is open-source again. But if that’s the case, why haven’t they updated the license agreement yet?