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Relicense under Apache-2.0 and add contributor docs - #18

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ndreno merged 2 commits into
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apache-2.0-and-contributing
Sep 29, 2026
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ndreno merged 2 commits into
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apache-2.0-and-contributing

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@ndreno ndreno commented Sep 29, 2026

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Summary

Relicenses Burst from AGPL-3.0 with a commercial dual license to Apache-2.0, and adds what outside contributors need before the project is announced.

Do not merge until @thomassaison has agreed to the relicense. His commits are part of the history, so relicensing them needs his consent. A comment on this PR saying so is enough.

Why Apache-2.0

  • Burst's comparison point is Zulip, which is Apache-2.0 end to end (ADR-016). Burst's differentiator is footprint, not licensing, and AGPL is a reason for companies to pick Zulip instead.
  • Inbound = outbound: contributions arrive under the license the project ships under, so a DCO sign-off is enough and no CLA or relicensing clause is needed.
  • Apache over MIT for the explicit patent grant.

Compatibility

  • Burst links no Barbacane crate. The gateway is a separate process, and shipping it in the all-in-one image is aggregation, so Barbacane stays AGPL.
  • Every Rust dependency is permissive (r-efi is MIT/Apache/LGPL at our choice). The only non-permissive npm package is lightningcss (MPL-2.0), a build-time CSS tool that is not shipped.

Changes

  • LICENSE holds the official Apache-2.0 text. LICENSING.md (dual licensing, commercial terms) is removed.
  • The Cargo workspace license, the OpenAPI info.license (with SPDX identifier), docs/index.md and ROADMAP.md name Apache-2.0.
  • New CONTRIBUTING.md: dev setup, the checks CI runs, Conventional Commits, DCO sign-off, ADRs.
  • New CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md (Contributor Covenant, same as Barbacane), .github/SECURITY.md, issue forms for bugs and features, and a PR template.
  • README: Contributing and License sections.

The license commit is chore(license)! so release-please lists it under breaking changes in the next release notes, with a bump to 0.3.0. If you'd rather it not bump the version, drop the ! and the BREAKING CHANGE footer when merging.

Testing

  • make lint-spec passes.
  • The issue forms parse as YAML. They render once merged to main.

Burst moves from AGPL-3.0 with a commercial dual license to Apache-2.0.
LICENSE carries the Apache-2.0 text, LICENSING.md and the commercial
terms are removed, and the Cargo workspace, the OpenAPI spec and the
docs name the new license.

Burst links no Barbacane crate (the gateway runs as a separate process),
and every Rust and shipped npm dependency is under a permissive license,
so nothing constrains the change.

BREAKING CHANGE: Burst is distributed under the Apache License 2.0
instead of the GNU AGPLv3. The commercial license no longer applies.

Signed-off-by: Nicolas Dreno <nicolas.dreno@barbacane.dev>
…plates

CONTRIBUTING.md covers the dev setup, the checks CI runs, Conventional
Commits with DCO sign-off, and inbound=outbound Apache-2.0 licensing.
Issue forms (bug, feature) route questions to Discussions and
vulnerabilities to private reporting. The README links the guide and
states the license.

Signed-off-by: Nicolas Dreno <nicolas.dreno@barbacane.dev>
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@ndreno
ndreno merged commit c447e2c into main Sep 29, 2026
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@ndreno
ndreno deleted the apache-2.0-and-contributing branch September 29, 2026 20:16
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