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There are different versions of the GPL license, ranging from the lightweight copyleft LGPL to the strong copyleft AGPL.

But if the LGPL is a lighter copyleft version of the GPL, why isn't there a lighter copyleft version of the AGPL?

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[-] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 hours ago

Imagine a game difficulty selection level:

easy <> normal <> hard

Easy is easier than normal. Why don't we have an easier version of hard? That's the kind of question you ask.

[-] lengau@midwest.social 1 points 1 hour ago

The thing is this isn't a single spectrum. The requirement the AGPL adds to the GPL could be applied to the LGPL without including the requirements added by the GPL.

To take the video game analogy, it's more like asking why you can't set the brightness above 50% if the graphics quality is set to ultra.

The answer here is that the FSF likely doesn't see the utility in such a license.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 hours ago

Nah, you can have a license that says you get a cupcake and another license that says you need to give up your first-born.
And then you can mush those licenses to say that you need to give up your first-born, but you get a cupcake in return.

Unless the specific license terms contradict, this is totally possible.

this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
22 points (100.0% liked)

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