Connected Placesnew from me: FR#156 - Share Where?
on @Mastodon 's new Share button, the Mastodon API and protocol ownership
silverpillThe Mastodon API is open source, but it is not an open standard. It is designed, maintained, and changed by one project, without input from the rest of the ecosystem.
Not without. The design of this API is shaped by the needs Mastodon users. Sometimes PRs are submitted by developers of 3rd party clients and by developers of other servers. Independent implementers of Mastodon API often extend it, and copy each other's extensions, there is even a discussion about Mastodon API Enhancement Proposals (similar to FEPs).
So I think that by now it is very much an open standard.
ActivityPub API may have W3C's stamp or approval, but that doesn't mean anything if nobody uses it.
P.S. Does your blog not federate anymore?
Evan ProdromouIt would probably be really good for the ecosystem if @Mastodon was explicit about reuse and reimplementation of its API.
In particular, a license or IP non-assertion pledge that says, as far as Mastodon is concerned, anyone can clone their API in a new implementation, regardless of code license, and Mastodon won't assert patent, trademark, copyright, or other rights against them.
julian@[email protected] can one even patent an API 🤔
@julian @fediversereport it's an interesting question! IANAL, but my understanding is that patents are more for implementations than interfaces.
That said, if the interface contract defines some behaviour that requires a patented technique, you might not be able to implement the interface correctly without violating the patent.
For example, back when the compression used in GIF format was patented, you couldn't implement a `encodeGIF(filename)` interface correctly without violating the patent.
A non-assertion pledge by Mastodon makes it clear that third-party developers don't have to worry about that. "We think you can clone this API without violating any of our patents [especially because we don't hold any!], nor trademarks or other IP protections. We will not make it hard for you to implement this API freely."