Software license for Joplin Server
Donation protected
Most of the Joplin project is under an open source (MIT) license, including the mobile, desktop and terminal applications, as well as a number of libraries.
The Joplin Server license however is different. It is not FOSS, but instead it is made available under a "Free for Personal Use" license, which allows anyone to self-host it as long as it is not for commercial purposes.
The issue is that this license has been written by myself (not a lawyer) and when it comes to licenses it's hard to tell if it's valid or not, and thus there is a risk that a legal loophole could be exploited to use the software commercially.
The two options to prevent this are:
- Make the software closed source and stop releasing it for free. This is obviously something I'd rather avoid because I'm fine with allowing people to self-host.
- Hire a lawyer to write a proper license.
And this is this second option that I would be keen to pursue. That is perhaps a bit unusual to crowdfund something like this but it makes sense since it means anybody who's interested in self hosting Joplin Server can contribute. Once we reach the specified amount, I get a lawyer and we have something solid that truly allows anyone to self-host while preventing businesses from cloning Joplin Cloud.
And, as a bonus, the text of this license will be put into the public domain - that way it can benefit other developers who might want to release their software as "Free for Personal Use".
Organizer
Laurent Cozic
Organizer
England
