Cloud computing and open source are two disruptive innovations. Both deeply modify the way the computer resources are made available and monetized. They evolve between competition (e.g. open source software for desktop versus SaaS applications) and complementarity (e.g. cloud solutions based on open source components or cloud applications published under open source license). PaaSage is an open source integrated platform to support both design and deployment of cloud applications. The PaaSage consortium decided to publish the source code as open source. It needed a process for the open source license selection. Open source licensing scheme born before the development of cloud computing and evolved with the creation of new open source licenses suitable for SaaS applications. The license is a part of project governance and strongly influences the life of the project. In the context of the PaaSage European project, the issue of the open source license selection for cloud computing software has been addressed. The first section of the paper describes the state of the art about open source licenses including the known issues, a generic license-selection scheme and the automated source code analysis practices. The second section studies the common choices of licenses in cloud computing projects. The third section proposes a FLOSS license-selection process for cloud computing project following five steps : (1) inventorying software components, (2) selecting open source license, (3) approving license selection (vote), (4) spreading practical details and (5) monitoring source code. The fourth section describes the PaaSage use case. The last section consists in a discussion of the results

1. A FLOSS License-Selection Methodology for
Cloud Computing Projects
CLOSER 2016
6th International Conference
on Cloud Computing and Services Science
Rome (Italy) – April 23-25, 2016
robert.viseur@cetic.be

2. Who I am?
• DrIrRobertVISEUR.
• Education:CivilEngineer(FPMs),MasterinInnovationManagement,Doctorin
appliedsciences.
• Skills:management ofinnovation,co-creation,opensourceandinformation
processing.
• Affiliations:
– TeachingAssistant,UMONSFacultyofEngineering(www.umons.ac.be),Department
ofTechnologicalInnovationManagement(PrVankerkem).
– SeniorR&DExpert,CETIC(www.cetic.be).
• Freelancephotographer(www.derriereleviseur.be).
• Moreinformation: www.robertviseur.be.

3. What is the Context?
• Context:PaaSageEU-fundedproject.
• Agreementtopublishtheprojectunderopensourcelicense.
Whatlicense?!
• FLOSSlicenseaspartofprojectgovernance.
• StronginfluenceofFLOSSlicensesonthefutureofprojects.
TheworkpresentedinthispaperhasbeenpartiallyfundedbytheEUFP7-ICTprojectPaaSage(grantno.317715).
ThispresentationispublishedunderCC-BY-ND.

4. What is PaaSage?
PaaSage?
“anopensourceintegratedplatformtosupportbothdesignanddeploymentof
Cloudapplications,togetherwithanaccompanyingmethodologythatallowsmodel-
baseddevelopment,configuration,optimisation,anddeploymentofexistingand
newapplicationsindependentlyoftheexistingunderlyingCloudinfrastructures”
(paasage.org).

5. What are the Families of FLOSS Licenses?

6. What are the Issues?
• Issuesaroundlicenseselection:
– Impactonbusinessmodel.
– Impactonlicensechanges.
– Impactonprojectsuccess.

7. What are the Steps of the Methodology? (#1)
• Valuationschemadividedinthreesteps(basedonViseur,2013a):
– Step1:choosingthetypeoflicense(proprietary,hybrid,opensource).
– Step2:choosinganopensourcelicense(ifanopensourcelicenseischosen
instep1).
– Step3:checkinggeneralconstraints(e.g.compatibilityissuesororganization
policy).

8. What are the Steps of the Methodology? (#2)
• Secondstepdividedintofoursub-steps.
– Sub-step2.1:Itcheckstheinterestorthewillingnesstojoinanexisting
communityorecosystem.Ifyes,thelicenseoftheecosystemisretained(e.g.
ApachelicenseforApacheFoundationorEclipselicenseforEclipse
Foundation).
– Sub-step2.2:Ittestsifthepriorityisgiventothemaximumdistributionofthe
software.Ifyes,apermissivelicenseischosen(e.g.MITorBSD).
– Sub-step2.3:Thepriorityisgiventothesharingofdevelopments.Thissub-step
verifiesifthelicenseshouldfacilitatetheintegrationofsoftwareintothird-party
softwarethatarepotentiallyunderotherlicenses(→sub-steps2.3.1and2.3.2).
– Sub-step2.4:Itverifiesthewillingnesstosharethesourcecodeownership.If
yes,acontributoragreementisimposedtothecontributors.

9. What are the Steps of the Methodology? (#3)
• Thesub-step2.3isdividedintotwosub-steps.
– Sub-step2.3.1:Iftheintegrationwiththird-partysoftwareisnotpreferred,
thewillingnesstocovertheuseofthesoftwareasSaaSischecked.Ifyes,a
licensewithnetworkreciprocityischosen(e.g.AGPLorOSL).Otherwise,a
licensewithstrongreciprocityischosen(e.g.GPL).
– Sub-step2.3.2:Iftheintegrationwiththird-partysoftwareispreferred,the
degreeofpermissivenessacceptedincaseofnewfeaturesadditionis
checked.Incaseofhighpermissivity,alicensewithfile-basedweakcopyleft
isused(e.g.MPL).Otherwise,theLGPLisused.

10. What are the Common Choices in CC projects?
• DistinctionbetweenSaaSandPaaS/IaaSFLOSSsoftware.
– FLOSSSaaS:
● Riseofreciprocallicenseswithnetworkeffect(i.e.AGPLandOSL).
– FLOSSPaaS/IaaS:
● Casestudies:OpenStack,Eucalyptus,OpenNebula,CloudStack,
DeltaCloud,OpenShift,Appscale,StratosandTsuru.
● Commonchoice:Apachelicense.

11. What is our FLOSS License-Selection Process for
CC projets?
• FLOSSlicenseselectionin5steps:
– Inventoryingsoftwarecomponents.
– Selectingopensourcelicense.
– Approvinglicenseselection.
– Spreadingpracticaldetails.
– Monitoringsourcecode.

12. What are the Results for the PaaSage Use Case?
(#1)
• Inventoryingsoftwarecomponents.
– Existingcomponentsunderopensourcelicensesorprivativesourcecode.
• Selectingopensourcelicense.
– Alternatives:LGPL3.0,CPL/EPL,CDDLandMPL2.0(weakcopyleft).
– Choice:MPL2.0.
• Approvinglicenseselection.
– Votebetweenpartners.

13. What are the Results for the PaaSage Use Case?
(#2)
• Spreadingpracticaldetails.
– Putthetextofthelicenseintherootofthesourcecode.
– Descriptionofthelicenseintheheaderofeachfile.
– DocumentedinMozillawebsite.
• Monitoringsourcecode.
– UseofApacheRAT(planned).

14. What are the Limitations?
• Limitationsinthelicense-selectionmethodology:
– Nodistinctionbetweentheversionsofasamelicense(→step3).
– Nodetectionforcopy-and-pastesourcecodes.

15. What are the Improvements?
• Improvement:
– Useofdesigntoolsallowingtodetectlegalissues(e.g.OSSLI).

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Thank you!
Contact:
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