This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License 3.0 with the following clarification and special exception1.
Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU Affero General Public License cover the whole combination.
As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.
As such, it can be used to run, create and distribute a large class of applications. When this software is used unmodified as the core library for an app it does not affect the licensing for distributing those programs directly. This enables the software to be packaged and distributed through channels that impose licenses that are incompatible with free software.
The text of this exception is identical to the GNU Classpath exception, but whereas that exception applied only to the General Public License, the App Fair exception applies to the Affero General Public License, and therefore the protections are extended to applications running in the cloud. ↩