[g00gler]

I’ve been struggling with this for a bit — I am working on something I’d like to make open source for every use except resale / selling a hosted version.

Eg, you can have a private fork you use at work. You can host it for your own use anywhere you want.

I just want to retain the exclusive rights to sell it.

So 2 questions;

Is this not open source?

What’s a palatable license if you want to be able to sell a hosted version of your product?

[Macha]

> Is this not open source?

The OSI, FSF and DFSG would all agree that this is not open source if it imposes field of use restrictions.

> What’s a palatable license if you want to be able to sell a hosted version of your product?

The old approach here was to do open core, where the core software is open source but enterprisey wants like SAML/OIDC, auditing features, etc. were in a seperate edition. This generally doesn't get the same hostility as this type of license, where only old (and insecure versions) are available for open source usage.

Or just accept that what you want _isn't_ open source, and go for source-available with a freeware edition. Just don't expect to have your cake and eat it with the publicity and profile boost of open source and the exclusive commercialization ability of proprietary software.

[josephcsible]

Any license that prohibits selling a hosted version will necessarily fail to meet the Open Source Definition. Your best bet would instead be to pick a license that the companies that would do so are irrationally afraid of. The AGPLv3 is the usual choice for this. Even though, e.g., GCP would be legally allowed to, Google internally has an absolute policy against doing so: https://opensource.google/documentation/reference/using/agpl...

[xyzzy_plugh]

AGPL is certainly the popular choice but it is particularly difficult to wield properly in a corporate environment like GCP or AWS. If your goal is "ha ha fuck you megacorp good luck using THIS license" then congratulations, AGPL is for you. If your goal is to foster a community and ensure service providers contribute upstream, then AGPL fails to meet that bar as it is far too hostile for big businesses.