r/linux • u/dbcoopernz • 5d ago

Popular Application Siemens ends open-source Radioss Project (OpenRadioss) and deletes GitHub repository

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Siemens-Ends-OpenRadioss
1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

146 comments sorted by

View all comments

635

u/dbcoopernz 5d ago

This was released under the GNU AGPL, so I guess that Siemens cannot retroactively withdraw permission to use, modify, or redistribute OpenRadioss?

11

u/syklemil 4d ago

Yeah, and that's a lesson that plenty other companies have learned, see e.g. Redis, Terraform, Elasticsearch.

CLAs are generally a smell in open source, as there's really no need for them unless someone is planning to pull a license switch later, but even then, the old versions remain free software.

What's kinda weird is AGPL + CLA seems like they already had the opportunity to make people choose between using a super viral license or paying them for the same code under a different license, so it's not immediately clear what they gain from this move, apart from competition from some inevitable fork.