[pron]

I, too, like GPL and free software, but I'd like to stress that this change hardly closes any loopholes. The previous BDB license was simply too vague and open to competing interpretations. The AGPL does not require web software using BDB to distribute its source code, only software actually modifying BDB.

The gist of AGPL is this:

* If you redistribute BDB with your software, then you must provide your software's source code (even if you haven't modified BDB).

* If you use BDB on your web server, then you must provide the source for your software only if BDB is modified.

Since hardly anyone modifies BDB (I would assume), this affects almost no one. It simply makes the license clear.

[jbellis]

Partly true. The FSF interprets "X linking Y" as "X modifying Y and therefore subject to Y's license," which is why Microsoft got to make so much hay out of the GPL's "virality."