Server Side Public License
| Author | MongoDB Inc. |
|---|---|
| Published | October 16, 2018 |
| SPDX identifier | SSPL-1.0 |
| Debian FSG compatible | No |
| FSF approved | No |
| OSI approved | No |
| GPL compatible | No |
| Copyleft | Yes |
| Linking from code with a different license | No |
| Website | www |
The Server Side Public License (SSPL) is a strong copyleft software license first introduced by MongoDB Inc. in 2018.
It includes most of the text and provisions of the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPL v3), but modifies its provisions for software that is conveyed over a network—requiring that anyone who offers the functionality of SSPL-licensed software to third-parties as a service must release the entirety of their source code, including all software, APIs, and other software that would be required for a user to run an instance of the service themselves, under the SSPL.
The SSPL is not recognized as free software by the Open Source Initiative (OSI), Red Hat, or Debian, who claim the aforementioned provision is discriminatory towards specific fields of use. Specifically, they assert this is discriminatory against those who use proprietary software within their stack, as the license requires the open-sourcing of every part interacting with the service, and argue this violates criteria 6 and 9 of the Open Source Definition.