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I just received the following e-mail from Sencha:

Hi,

We are proactively reaching out to people who have downloaded the GPL version of Ext JS to remind them of the proper use of the license. We are in no way saying you are misusing it, but on a regular basis we send out emails as reminders, just in case.

For your reference our GPL license has been deprecated.

What does deprecated mean exactly, since it is not possible to draw back code released under GPL license from not being allowed to be used under the license anymore?

Does it mean, that there will be no ExtJs version 8 released under GPL anymore? So far they had the policy to release every new major version after the first minor fix release as GPL. So this commitment to the community is canceled now, is this correct?

If you are using it, the use of GPL license must be prominently displayed and the code must be made publicly available.

As far as I know, this statement is wrong in parts. The GPL does not force you to make your code public. It just forces you to put it under the GPL and make it available for the people who receive the source code or built app.

Can you confirm this?

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What does deprecated mean exactly, since it is not possible to draw back code released under GPL license from not being allowed to be used under the license anymore?

Does it mean, that there will be no ExtJs version 8 released under GPL anymore?

That seems correct. They do not intend to license future versions under the GPL, but nothing allows them to revoke the GPL grant they have already granted on past versions -- nor do I see anything in their wording that indicates any plan to try to do that. They have also stopped advertising the fact that past versions of ExtJS are available under the GPL on their licensing page. This is perfectly fine and they are allowed to stop advertising this fact; they just can't stop other people from advertising and making use of this true fact about past versions.

The GPL does not force you to make your code public. It just forces you to put it under the GPL and make it available for the people who receive the source code or built app.

Your understanding is correct. I hope what they mean is shorthand for, "We know the most common use case for Ext JS is client-side use on public-facing websites; in this common case, the GPL requires you to offer your complete client source code just as publicly as you offer your public website." But you are correct that if your website is not public-facing (or your use of Ext JS is somehow exclusively server-side, and it is never distributed over a network to a user's browser) then your obligation is limited to only those people who actually load a copy of your site that includes the Ext JS library. If that set of people is smaller than "anyone on the Web" (including, possibly, the empty set) then your GPL obligations are bounded to that smaller set of people only.

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  • Thank you for your answer. This should be a wake-up call for the community to take their fate in their own hands ... Any one interested? Any hint, where best to find/gather people?
    – Marc Mittag
    Commented May 1 at 13:29
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Sencha Statement:

Yes it is deprecated and maybe wont be released in 8.0 as GPL. We will invest more power an efforts in Community Edition

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  • That's a pity to hear - thank you for getting the info. Do you have any information towards their false claim, that GPL licensed code must be publicly available?
    – Marc Mittag
    Commented Apr 29 at 16:28
  • Obviously the point in time then finally has come to continue support for ExtJs 6 and 7 GPL version from the community and fork the project. Are there other people interested in this?
    – Marc Mittag
    Commented Apr 29 at 16:36
  • You might want to join the discord channel to find people.
    – Dinkheller
    Commented Apr 30 at 6:49
  • Can you tell me, what discord channel? Never been in an ExtJs discord channel and can not find one via Google
    – Marc Mittag
    Commented May 1 at 13:30
  • It would be great if you flag the answer as answer. Discord: discord.com/invite/RfxMGSbHXT
    – Dinkheller
    Commented May 2 at 16:56

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