Propose new functionalities for Decidim software
#DecidimRoadmap Designing Decidim together
Clarify the terms of the APGL license and its relation with the Social Contract
I recently received a comment in my Decidim installation guide asking if the adoption of the Social Contract was mandatory to install Decidim.
Please see all the discussion here to understand the context (I encourage everybody to read the thread):
https://github.com/Platoniq/decidim-install/issues/30
As a summary:
I said that the only legal constraint is the AGPL license and the Social Contract is about being part of the Decidim community.
However, it seems that the social contract itself does not clarify this aspect and he proposes to change that.
QUOTING:
I suggest replacing this sentence from the Social Contract
"The use and development of the Decidim platform by an institution or social group of any kind involves the full and integral acceptance of, and commitment to, this social-contract."
by this one:
The Decidim software is covered by the AGPL license. [You can use it, modify it and redistribute derived versions of it you respect the AGPL license.] Contributions to the Decidim software are moderated by the Decidim association. You are welcome to take part of our association if you accept our Social Contract. Similarily, using the decidim.org platform requires you to respect our Social Contract.
END OF QUOTE
I am not sure if this should be exactly the change needed but I agree with the spirit. I would be nice to hear everybody's opinion on this matter.
The development of this proposal has finished
This debate has reached a consensual conclusion (see thread of comments). Changes applied in: https://decidim.org/faqs/
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Conversation with Oliver Valls
Beware @microstudi what you propose is contradictory with the GPL 3 license that Decidim has.
I mean, you can not use the AFERO license and then say that for using Decidim you have also to be compliant with the social-contract that is more restrictive than the license itself.
I have another open source project with GPL license but I wanted to add the constraint to not allow the use of the software for military purposes, but I can't because the GPL license says that anyone can use the software as long as he keeps the GPL license.
That's precisely what I meant. Maybe It wasn't properly explained.
The situation now is that the Social Contract text now says that for USING Decidim you need to comply with the Social Contract. But legally, you only need to comply with the AGPL.
Another think is that if we, as a Decidim association or community, stick to the social contract in order to accept changes to the Decidim software. Of course forks with changes not complying with the Social Contract can do wherever they want as long as comply with the AGPL, it's just that we may decide not to accept their changes. I think this is a discussion we should have as association and reach and agreement on that. I think that this is how Debian works for example, and IMO we should too.
I have the feeling that we all agree that this is how this works, but it is not clear for a newcomer. If you read the french article and its comments it's clear that people got the wrong impression.
I totally agree with you @microstudi, a clear public process on how changes should be accepted/refused will be great for everyone
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