Apparently it’s (by default) everything that doesn’t explicitly specify a license (especially a FOSS one) within the javascript code of the page, which is a ridiculously huge portion of JS on the internet.
It doesn’t apply to HTML because HTML is fundamentally not code that runs, but rather a markup. It’s just like how licensing a book under the GPL would be weird and unnatural, because it represents someone’s words. JS is code that runs on your computer, just like any other program
Shell and python scripts are also code which is executed. HTML (at least back in the day) wasn’t really a network shipped executable, but more like markdown file which is just parsed and rendered
This feels a bit like the debate over whether a virus is “alive” or not. “But the virus/HTML has DNA/code.” “But it requires another cell/web browser in order to replicate/execute.” etc. 😄
For the sake of simplicity, let’s go back to the time when websites were not full of JS and other modern web stuff
You could in principle just wget the html file from a server and parse/render it without having to run that file. Like I said, it is like a simple markdown file.
In terms of modern web, a crude analogy would be to look at the output from static site generators. In those, the server essentially doesn’t execute code, hence a lot of cloud providers can host your static sites for free
Apparently it’s (by default) everything that doesn’t explicitly specify a license (especially a FOSS one) within the javascript code of the page, which is a ridiculously huge portion of JS on the internet.
What if they did this with HTML too? :p
It doesn’t apply to HTML because HTML is fundamentally not code that runs, but rather a markup. It’s just like how licensing a book under the GPL would be weird and unnatural, because it represents someone’s words. JS is code that runs on your computer, just like any other program
where is the line drawn though, and who gets to decide?
MANY people say “html code” even if you consider that wrong.
Is a shell script or python “code”? Because it doesn’t directly translate to machine code?
See what I’m getting at?
Shell and python scripts are also code which is executed. HTML (at least back in the day) wasn’t really a network shipped executable, but more like markdown file which is just parsed and rendered
This feels a bit like the debate over whether a virus is “alive” or not. “But the virus/HTML has DNA/code.” “But it requires another cell/web browser in order to replicate/execute.” etc. 😄
I really don’t think so.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s go back to the time when websites were not full of JS and other modern web stuff
You could in principle just
wget
the html file from a server and parse/render it without having to run that file. Like I said, it is like a simple markdown file.In terms of modern web, a crude analogy would be to look at the output from static site generators. In those, the server essentially doesn’t execute code, hence a lot of cloud providers can host your static sites for free