v1.109.0
ImportantRead our announcement about supporting Immich by buying a license here
Highlights
Welcome to version v1.109.0 of Immich. This release introduces an additional way for you to supp...
Welcome to version v1.109.0 of Immich. This release introduces an additional way for you to support Immich financially as well as bug fixes for various issues. Some of the highlights in this release include:
Copy this to custom CSS in the adminpanel and the license banner is gone:
.license-status{
display:none !important;
}
It is possible to set the status to licensed too vua the database, but I didn’t try it.
I hope it will only be this banner. Kavita has had a donation button too and 2 updates further it was a floating button. The whole thing about licensing is heavily discussed on Discord.
They would have to track down everyone who has ever contributed to the project and convince them to sign a CLA. Many/most would refuse, whose code they would have to rewrite from scratch without violating their copyright (meaning no copy-pasting).
It would be messy and extremely painful, and at the end of the process we’d still have Immich as it was before the license change available to fork and maintain ourselves.
They only need the biggest contributors. Small contributions like single line or even a few lines edits etc. are not eligible for copyright. Also minor contributions can be easily rewritten.
… at which point we could still fork the project from before the license change and continue on our merry way.
If you expect ongoing maintenance, are you saying you feel entitled to the devs’ continuing work in perpetuity, and at no cost? Because that’s called slavery and we have laws against it.
If you expect ongoing maintenance, are you saying you feel entitled to the devs’ continuing work in perpetuity, and at no cost? Because that’s called slavery and we have laws against it.
They would need to do a private rewrite. Once again this is why you should never sign any kind of CLA. There isn’t a CLA here but it there were it would be a simple matter of them changing the license.
I don’t think it’s possible to make this project proprietary because FUTO does not own the rights to the code that were made by random contributors on git. Part of the promise was that they won’t change their CLA so it should be fine.
If worse comes to shovel the community could fork it. That would be very hard and seriously detrimental but if they start pulling crap like this it might be time.
FUTO is the same organization that doesn’t believe in Foss. The want one creator to have power over users. I don’t think that model is going to work out.
That’s not quite their position. They believe the OSI decides what counts as Open Source based on what benefits big tech who fund them. Basically, they think it’s wrong to argue that something cannot be considered open source unless Google is allowed to use the free labour of contributers without restriction or payment.
It isn’t open source or free software. There software prevents you from having the same rights as the parent organization. You can’t fork the project if there is a big development shift you don’t like so it is effectively proprietary.
Tbh it’s the English language that decides what counts as Open Source. Free/Open Source software has been established for decades at this point. It’s good that they changed the name to “Source First”.
I think that better wording would be “the organization that doesn’t believe that foss solves every problem”. For project like immich AGPL is completely fine but for the android keyboard it might not be a good idea to allow Google to use it to abuse their customers.
After listening the video where they discussed immich joining futo, I don’t have any worries. I have high hopes futo might actually be the company I have long hoped would emerge. Time will certainly tell.
I think people are getting hung up on the word license too much. Though I agree futo should have gone with a better word choice for clarity.
License just means supporter in this case.
Nothing like that is ever acceptable to show up on the dashboard of a service I am self hosting. Will not update Immich anymore unless they remove this garbage.
EDIT: they’ve adjusted the language and integration of buying the Immich software. It’s much clearer and balanced now. You can find the new info on their github announcements page, or likely in the notes of their next immich release.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I was really looking forward to them opening a compensation option as I got in after they had taken down donation links, but this is all a bit weird. There is some good discussion happening on the github announcement page. I’ll probably hold at version 1.108 for awhile until the dust settles.
I’ve gone through quite a few FUTO videos since they started sponsoring Immich, and it seems like the issue is that they are essentially an organization of engineers that don’t have a strong background in the legalese of licensing (thus the lack of attention to the wording of the original FUTO temporary license). Their intentions and goals are solid from my perspective and the software they promote is fantastic, but it feels very much like an org run by idealistic engineers without much of a PR presence. The best PR they have is Louis Rossman, take that as you will 😄
All that being said, I have paid for a few of their other pieces of software that are single user. The part I’m not overly fond of is that it seems to be a payment for each individual user, and not a payment to be able to run the server itself. I’m sure there is rational behind it, but it just feels like this whole licensing element isn’t fully baked yet.
I replied to a similar comment above ☝️. They call it a server license, but all the language surrounding it is centered on user counts. They are extremely generous giving the “unlimited trial period” with the high quality of Immich, but the way the licensing is being handled is just kind if confusing. At it’s root, it’s essentially just a request for people to pay for the service, but they’ve complicated it with the word choice.
I think that’s reasonable, and is the impression I have of FUTO as well. I’m using their Android keyboard at least and have been impressed by it (although I don’t have demanding needs).
There is absolutely an option to pay for the server itself, the per user option is so that it’s cheaper if you have fewer than 4. I haven’t seen anything yet about transitioning from a user license to a server license
I’d argue that’s just a license for 4+ users as the only differentiation is the dollar amount. In fact one of Alex Tran’s comments in the github announcement was that they simply capped the price at $100 to keep it from getting too expensive for instances with many users. It’s definitely licensing based on users, not servers.
I would be much more comfortable if their licensing language was centered on licensing a self-hosted server, not user amounts. Paying for individual users (IMO) is best done as a hosted service with a monthly fee. They’re probably a ways from being able to implement that though.
I am a huge fan of immich, been running it for quite a while, it started as just phone photo backup but it’s good enough that I’ve made it my primary photo repository (fully backed up of course). I will absolutely pay for a license but count me as one who doesn’t really like the terminology used.
I would happily put a donated or supporter badge to show off, but the unlicensed just feels a bit wrong. I have no trouble paying for software, especially as useful as immich, but in the enshittifying world we live in, such language gives one pause.
For me, the license stuff is odd. They offer a license model with two tiers (user / server), yet the license seems to do nothing (except showing a little badge). Also, it is a one time payment which will likely not be substantial in the future.
Why not create a “supporter” tier for maybe $2 per month or so, this would bring some recurring income without the fears of paywalling the product.
They completely miss the point of free software. The idea is that you can fork it after a hostel take over. The irony is that if they start forcing anti features they might end up with the community jumping ship.
They already accept donations as a means of continuous support. So I guess this is now just another channel for people who prefer buying a license over using github donations.
Edit: oh I just realized they stopped donations with the restructuring. Ok, that’s weird then.
This was planed from the begging of these guys developing the project. Don’t be naive guys. What o don’t like is the lack of transparency . It started as complete open and now it’s adding the “but” like many projects already did .
I like having more ways to support the project, but I don’t think “license” is the correct terminology they should use, unless they intend to release paid-only features which I’m not a fan of at all.
My biggest question to FUTO/Immich is if they’re worried about a revenue stream, why not do something similar to Home Assistant? You never have to pay HASS a dime and never see anything to “shame” you. All you get is essentially a forwarding subdomain with some “easier” ways of doing cloud related things. There’s zero “shaming” or calls to pay. I pay HASS/Nabu Casa monthly cause I’m lazy and it makes my life easier. FUTO should consider doing something similar.
I use nginx reverse proxy on Jellyfin (and a bunch of other services as well) and it’s working great. Maybe you have some weird setup or complex situation.
I have a boat load of stuff thru nginx. Using nginx-proxymanager. Dunno if I need to add any special parameters for Jellyfin. Tailscale Funnel is working fine for now.
If you could share your settings for your nginx setup, that might help me.
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From Discord
Copy this to custom CSS in the adminpanel and the license banner is gone:
It is possible to set the status to licensed too vua the database, but I didn’t try it.
I hope it will only be this banner. Kavita has had a donation button too and 2 updates further it was a floating button. The whole thing about licensing is heavily discussed on Discord.
Yep and eventually there will be a paid proprietary version. That’s usually how it goes. I hope I am wrong.
Would be very difficult to switch licenses away from GPL3
While true it is not impossible to relicense a software project.
They would have to track down everyone who has ever contributed to the project and convince them to sign a CLA. Many/most would refuse, whose code they would have to rewrite from scratch without violating their copyright (meaning no copy-pasting).
It would be messy and extremely painful, and at the end of the process we’d still have Immich as it was before the license change available to fork and maintain ourselves.
They only need the biggest contributors. Small contributions like single line or even a few lines edits etc. are not eligible for copyright. Also minor contributions can be easily rewritten.
Most ppl you will get with a paycheck.
… at which point we could still fork the project from before the license change and continue on our merry way.
If you expect ongoing maintenance, are you saying you feel entitled to the devs’ continuing work in perpetuity, and at no cost? Because that’s called slavery and we have laws against it.
Stop putting words in my mouth.
They would need to do a private rewrite. Once again this is why you should never sign any kind of CLA. There isn’t a CLA here but it there were it would be a simple matter of them changing the license.
They promised at least that’s not how they’re going to do this, at least. But in the end, it’s easy to backpaddle on these promises.
Still: you can always fork the project.
I don’t think it’s possible to make this project proprietary because FUTO does not own the rights to the code that were made by random contributors on git. Part of the promise was that they won’t change their CLA so it should be fine.
Who is? That’s the problem with forks. They always divide the community into slices
I don’t think that there’ll be a community for a project that turned proprietary.
Why not? There are some popular examples, like mysql --> mariadb or elasticsearch --> opensearch
I meant for the propietary branch.
Ok, makes sense
If worse comes to shovel the community could fork it. That would be very hard and seriously detrimental but if they start pulling crap like this it might be time.
I just hope they don’t destroy this beautiful product.
Immich joined FUTO, and FUTO’s model is that their stuff costs money but if you haven’t paid you’re not restricted.
A bit weird but they (FUTO) are trying to experiment with a new model.
FUTO is the same organization that doesn’t believe in Foss. The want one creator to have power over users. I don’t think that model is going to work out.
That’s not quite their position. They believe the OSI decides what counts as Open Source based on what benefits big tech who fund them. Basically, they think it’s wrong to argue that something cannot be considered open source unless Google is allowed to use the free labour of contributers without restriction or payment.
They talk more about it here and here.
Personally I don’t have a side in this fight but nothing I have seen has made me shy away from using their products.
It isn’t open source or free software. There software prevents you from having the same rights as the parent organization. You can’t fork the project if there is a big development shift you don’t like so it is effectively proprietary.
Yes you can, you just cant change the payment links
Sorry I though you were talking about Grayjay.
Tbh it’s the English language that decides what counts as Open Source. Free/Open Source software has been established for decades at this point. It’s good that they changed the name to “Source First”.
I think that better wording would be “the organization that doesn’t believe that foss solves every problem”. For project like immich AGPL is completely fine but for the android keyboard it might not be a good idea to allow Google to use it to abuse their customers.
After listening the video where they discussed immich joining futo, I don’t have any worries. I have high hopes futo might actually be the company I have long hoped would emerge. Time will certainly tell.
I think people are getting hung up on the word license too much. Though I agree futo should have gone with a better word choice for clarity. License just means supporter in this case.
Nothing like that is ever acceptable to show up on the dashboard of a service I am self hosting. Will not update Immich anymore unless they remove this garbage.
What if I already gave them >$100?
In the discord they said they will give you a license, and they’re planning to do it automatically
But there’s nothing tying that donation to my account, so how could they do that?
If they have an email address they can send a license key
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
[Thread #878 for this sub, first seen 19th Jul 2024, 06:45] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
EDIT: they’ve adjusted the language and integration of buying the Immich software. It’s much clearer and balanced now. You can find the new info on their github announcements page, or likely in the notes of their next immich release.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I was really looking forward to them opening a compensation option as I got in after they had taken down donation links, but this is all a bit weird. There is some good discussion happening on the github announcement page. I’ll probably hold at version 1.108 for awhile until the dust settles.
I’ve gone through quite a few FUTO videos since they started sponsoring Immich, and it seems like the issue is that they are essentially an organization of engineers that don’t have a strong background in the legalese of licensing (thus the lack of attention to the wording of the original FUTO temporary license). Their intentions and goals are solid from my perspective and the software they promote is fantastic, but it feels very much like an org run by idealistic engineers without much of a PR presence. The best PR they have is Louis Rossman, take that as you will 😄
All that being said, I have paid for a few of their other pieces of software that are single user. The part I’m not overly fond of is that it seems to be a payment for each individual user, and not a payment to be able to run the server itself. I’m sure there is rational behind it, but it just feels like this whole licensing element isn’t fully baked yet.
There is a server license offered with unlimited users for $100.
I replied to a similar comment above ☝️. They call it a server license, but all the language surrounding it is centered on user counts. They are extremely generous giving the “unlimited trial period” with the high quality of Immich, but the way the licensing is being handled is just kind if confusing. At it’s root, it’s essentially just a request for people to pay for the service, but they’ve complicated it with the word choice.
I think that’s reasonable, and is the impression I have of FUTO as well. I’m using their Android keyboard at least and have been impressed by it (although I don’t have demanding needs).
Me too. It’s a quality app, the only other open source keyboard that rivals it in my mind is Heliboard.
There is absolutely an option to pay for the server itself, the per user option is so that it’s cheaper if you have fewer than 4. I haven’t seen anything yet about transitioning from a user license to a server license
I’d argue that’s just a license for 4+ users as the only differentiation is the dollar amount. In fact one of Alex Tran’s comments in the github announcement was that they simply capped the price at $100 to keep it from getting too expensive for instances with many users. It’s definitely licensing based on users, not servers.
I would be much more comfortable if their licensing language was centered on licensing a self-hosted server, not user amounts. Paying for individual users (IMO) is best done as a hosted service with a monthly fee. They’re probably a ways from being able to implement that though.
I am a huge fan of immich, been running it for quite a while, it started as just phone photo backup but it’s good enough that I’ve made it my primary photo repository (fully backed up of course). I will absolutely pay for a license but count me as one who doesn’t really like the terminology used.
I would happily put a donated or supporter badge to show off, but the unlicensed just feels a bit wrong. I have no trouble paying for software, especially as useful as immich, but in the enshittifying world we live in, such language gives one pause.
good news, the terminology is changing
Is feel a lot better about this if it was a “supporter” tag not this “unlicensed” crap.
They should just have you pay to have your name listed on the list of supporters
Yeah this terminology just gives me the impression they don’t consider the AGPL to an actual license
It also raises red flags about what they (hopefully don’t) have in mind for the future
For me, the license stuff is odd. They offer a license model with two tiers (user / server), yet the license seems to do nothing (except showing a little badge). Also, it is a one time payment which will likely not be substantial in the future.
Why not create a “supporter” tier for maybe $2 per month or so, this would bring some recurring income without the fears of paywalling the product.
deleted by creator
They completely miss the point of free software. The idea is that you can fork it after a hostel take over. The irony is that if they start forcing anti features they might end up with the community jumping ship.
This is basically the doing of the futo non profit, they ate testing out if open source software can be profittable.
Louis Rossmann has a lot of videos about them (he works for them)
From what I get, you can just use it for free, but they don’t say it is free to compell more people to buy it.
So basically WinRAR
They already accept donations as a means of continuous support. So I guess this is now just another channel for people who prefer buying a license over using github donations.
Edit: oh I just realized they stopped donations with the restructuring. Ok, that’s weird then.
FUTO’s goal is to change FOSS culture. Away from “donations” and towards “payment”, to make development sustainable.
The only problem is that there’s no way to make a recurring payment even if I wanted to, which would be more sustainable than one-time purchases.
Then don’t 🤷 you don’t have to.
Yeah but why not both? Extra support shouldn’t hurt.
We don’t have both.
So “it’s weird then”. As I said. And basically as the person I answered to said.
I think they have succeeded in pissing people off
Change usually does.
How dare you pay continued support. You will have a one time fee and be happy.
I can’t wait until they make you hand enter a 30 character license key
They’ll supply a giant paper manual, and you’ll have to look through it to find the key. DRM, 1980s style.
… each time the server restart and randomly during login.
I will wait for the “AIO Immich Ultimate Keygen” by Razor1911 ☝🏻😂
That would make sense. They could even give you a badge or send you merch if you are a bigger supporter.
Stuff like this is why I can’t support FUTO
Declaring the use without a paid license as “Unlicensed” is very misleading since the project is also licensed under the GNU AGPL v3.0.
That’s FUTO for you
This was planed from the begging of these guys developing the project. Don’t be naive guys. What o don’t like is the lack of transparency . It started as complete open and now it’s adding the “but” like many projects already did .
They’ve been extremely transparent about this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwz2iZwYpgg
That video is new
Streamed 2 months ago? They announced joining FUTO on 1st May 2024 (in the immich discord anyway) and announced the livestream then.
I think the app a quite older than than . Or not?
Immich is older than that video yes?
They need to make money somehow. And you probably don’t want sponsored images in your library.
or your pics analyzed for ads
Like Jellyfin
What?
I like having more ways to support the project, but I don’t think “license” is the correct terminology they should use, unless they intend to release paid-only features which I’m not a fan of at all.
I wanted to like immich but I hate the way it imports images and creates its own structure.
It’s had an external library feature for awhile now
I am importing my externally synced and managed library to immich. It does not create any structure or edit the files.
I can’t say I support FUTO but if they are looking to drive development I am all for it
My biggest question to FUTO/Immich is if they’re worried about a revenue stream, why not do something similar to Home Assistant? You never have to pay HASS a dime and never see anything to “shame” you. All you get is essentially a forwarding subdomain with some “easier” ways of doing cloud related things. There’s zero “shaming” or calls to pay. I pay HASS/Nabu Casa monthly cause I’m lazy and it makes my life easier. FUTO should consider doing something similar.
Same with jellyfin.
They basically don’t accept recurrent donations on purpose
https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-we-re-good-seriously
If and when Jellyfin “needs” revenue, 100% agree. But with that post they’re saying they’re not worried about it, unlike FUTO/Immich.
Hopefully one day Jellyfin will be big enough and stable enough to warrant that kind of funnel.
Right now, I use TailScale funnel for Jellyfin. For some reason nginx just bogs it down too heavily.
https://tailscale.com/kb/1223/funnel
I use nginx reverse proxy on Jellyfin (and a bunch of other services as well) and it’s working great. Maybe you have some weird setup or complex situation.
I have a boat load of stuff thru nginx. Using nginx-proxymanager. Dunno if I need to add any special parameters for Jellyfin. Tailscale Funnel is working fine for now.
If you could share your settings for your nginx setup, that might help me.
I don’t use NPM but directly nginx. All my nginx general setup and per-service specific settings are here: https://wiki.gardiol.org
There is a global page for the reverse proxy, and then each service I tried/use has its own setup page.
Awesome! Thanks so much!