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<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
<title>FSL - Functional Source License</title>
<style>
@import url("./style.css?1");
</style>
<meta property="og:title" content="FSL" />
<meta
property="og:description"
content="The Functional Source License (FSL) is a source-available license that converts to Apache 2.0 or MIT after two years."
/>
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://fsl.software/" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://fsl.software/fsl.webp" />
<link
rel="icon"
type="image/svg+xml"
href="data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 width=%22256%22 height=%22256%22 viewBox=%220 0 100 100%22><text x=%2250%%22 y=%2250%%22 dominant-baseline=%22central%22 text-anchor=%22middle%22 font-size=%2290%22>⏱️</text></svg>"
/>
</head>
<body>
<article>
<div class="hero">
<h1>FSL</h1>
</div>
<section class="intro">
<div class="content">
<h2>What?</h2>
<p>
The Functional Source License (FSL) is a mostly permissive
non-compete license that converts to Apache 2.0 or MIT after two
years. It is designed for SaaS companies that value both user
freedom and developer sustainability. FSL provides everything a
developer needs to use and learn from your software without
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem"
>harmful free-riding</a
>.
</p>
</div>
</section>
<section class="templates">
<div class="content">
<h2>
<a
href="https://github.com/getsentry/fsl.software/blob/main/FSL-1.1-ALv2.template.md"
>FSL-1.1-ALv2</a
>
(<a href="./FSL-1.1-ALv2.template.md">raw</a>)
</h2>
<h2>
<a
href="https://github.com/getsentry/fsl.software/blob/main/FSL-1.1-MIT.template.md"
>FSL-1.1-MIT</a
>
(<a href="./FSL-1.1-MIT.template.md">raw</a>)
</h2>
</div>
</section>
<section class="companies" id="who">
<div class="content">
<h2>Who?</h2>
<p>
Here are products using FSL. Add yours
<a href="https://github.com/getsentry/fsl.software#readme"
>on GitHub</a
>.
</p>
<!-- prettier-ignore -->
<ul>
<!--
Keep this list alphabetized, should be easy with title attr first.
-->
<li><a title="Answer Overflow" href="https://github.com/AnswerOverflow/AnswerOverflow" ><img src="./logos/answer-overflow.svg" alt="Answer Overflow logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="CodeCrafters" href="https://github.com/codecrafters-io/frontend" ><img src="./logos/codecrafters.svg" alt="CodeCrafters logo"/></a></li>
<li><a title="Codecov" href="https://github.com/codecov/self-hosted" ><img src="./logos/codecov.svg" alt="Codecov logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="Convex" href="https://github.com/get-convex/convex-backend" ><img src="./logos/convex.svg" alt="Convex logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="GitButler" href="https://github.com/gitbutlerapp/gitbutler" ><img src="./logos/gitbutler.svg" alt="GitButler logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="PowerSync" href="https://github.com/powersync-ja/powersync-service" ><img src="./logos/powersync.svg" alt="PowerSync logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="Sentry" href="https://github.com/getsentry/self-hosted" ><img src="./logos/sentry.svg" alt="Sentry logo" /></a></li>
<li><a title="Vyuh Framework" href="https://github.com/vyuh-tech/vyuh" ><img src="./logos/vyuh.svg" alt="Vyuh logo" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<section class="faw">
<div class="content">
<h2>FAQ</h2>
<dl>
<dt>Why?</dt>
<dd>
Many SaaS companies wish to make the source code for their core
products available under
<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_software_license"
>permissive</a
>
terms without the risk of
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem"
>harmful free-riding</a
>. A standard license for this purpose makes life easier for both
producers and consumers of such software.
</dd>
<dt>What is harmful free-riding?</dt>
<dd>
Harmful free-riding is the sort of free-riding that leads to
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem"
>the free-rider problem</a
>: “In the social sciences, the free-rider problem is a type of
market failure that occurs when those who benefit from resources,
public goods and common pool resources do not pay for them or
under-pay. Examples of such goods are public roads or public
libraries or services or other goods of a communal nature. Free
riders are a problem for common pool resources because they may
overuse it by not paying for the good (either directly through
fees or tolls or indirectly through taxes). Consequently, the
common pool resource may be under-produced, overused, or degraded.
Additionally, it has been shown that despite evidence that people
tend to be cooperative by nature (a prosocial behaviour), the
presence of free-riders causes cooperation to deteriorate,
perpetuating the free-rider problem.”
</dd>
<dt>Why not Open Source?</dt>
<dd>
<a href="https://opensource.org/osd/">Open Source</a> does not
protect against harmful free-riding.
</dd>
<dt>What about AGPLv3 though?</dt>
<dd>
<a href="https://opensource.org/license/agpl-v3/">AGPLv3</a>
is not permissive enough. As a highly viral copyleft license, it
exposes users to serious risk of having to divulge their
proprietary source code. FSL does not introduce this risk, so FSL
software can be adopted at organizations where AGPL is outside of
policy.
</dd>
<dt>Why not open core?</dt>
<dd>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model"
>Open core</a
>
is not permissive enough. It restricts based on feature set, such
that some product features are <i>never</i> open. Moreover, the
percentage of features that are restricted is highly variable from
product to product. With FSL, all product features are available
now for almost all uses, and are soon fully permissive.
</dd>
<dt>Why not [some other alternative]?</dt>
<dd>
There have been many somewhat similar attempts over the decades to
balance user freedom and developer sustainability. None has truly
caught on in the industry, and their original sponsors have either
stopped promoting or outright abandoned them.
<br /><br />
FSL's immediate predecessor is the
<a href="https://mariadb.com/bsl11/">Business Source License</a>
(BSL or BUSL). BSL's time-based approach is great, but the
Additional Use Grant is a serious flaw, because it creates
<a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231106144534/https://blog.adamretter.org.uk/business-source-license-adoption/#how-is-the-bsl-being-used"
>too much variability</a
>. Each BSL implementation is essentially a new license. Also,
four years is too long. FSL is an evolved BSL that (we hope) has a
better chance of catching on.
</dd>
<dt>What can I do with FSL software?</dt>
<dd>
You can do anything with FSL software except undermine its
producer. You can run it for almost all purposes, study it, modify
it, and distribute your changes, including proposing improvements
back to the producer. After two years it becomes permissive Open
Source software under Apache 2.0 or MIT.
</dd>
<dt>Why only Apache 2.0 and MIT?</dt>
<dd>
Looking at popular licenses according to
<a
href="https://opensource.org/licenses/?categories=popular-strong-community"
>OSI</a
>
and <a href="https://choosealicense.com/">GitHub</a>: copyleft is
not our jam, and BSD/ISC don't offer anything over MIT. That
leaves Apache 2.0 (with its patent grant) and MIT.
</dd>
<dt>
Okay, but I can use FSL with a different change license, right?
</dt>
<dd>
No. If you do this, you'll have to call it something other than
FSL. Can you try to use the
<a href="https://mariadb.com/bsl11/">Business Source License</a>,
though? It's similar to FSL but allows for any change license.
</dd>
<dt>How exactly does the two years work?</dt>
<dd>
The two year timeframe applies to each software version that is
made available. Methods of making software available include
pushing a Git commit, publishing a package to a repository, or
mailing out a CD in a tin. For example, one could clone a repo,
run
<code
>git checkout `git rev-list -n 1 --before="2 years ago"
master`</code
>, and—if <code>LICENSE.md</code> is FSL—use that version under
MIT or Apache 2.0.
</dd>
<dt>What's with the name?</dt>
<dd>Meh, it's functional. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</dd>
<dt>What's the backstory?</dt>
<dd>
<a
href="https://blog.sentry.io/introducing-the-functional-source-license-freedom-without-free-riding/"
>Read the announcement</a
>.
</dd>
<dt>How do I adopt FSL for my product?</dt>
<dd>
Glad you asked!
<a href="https://github.com/getsentry/fsl.software#readme"
>Check out our guide on GitHub</a
>.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</section>
<section class="footer">
<div class="content">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://github.com/getsentry/fsl.software"
><img src="./logos/social/github.svg" alt="GitHub"
/></a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</article>
</body>
</html>