This eventually surely lead to a lawsuit where this is tested, but in the meantime I would avoid MinIO at all cost. The commercial license to self host it is minimum $1000 per month for 100TB.
> If you distribute, host or create derivative works of the MinIO software over the network, the GNU AGPL v3 license requires that you also distribute the complete, corresponding source code of the combined work under the same GNU AGPL v3 license. This requirement applies whether or not you modified MinIO.
> To "modify" MinIO means to copy from or adapt all or any part of the work in a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact copy. The resulting derivative work is sometimes referred to as a "modified version" or we say that it is "based on" the earlier work. > Passing configuration parameters to a MinIO binary instance constitutes making a modified version, as it does not produce an exact binary copy.
and what derivative works mean:
> Combining MinIO software as part of a larger software stack triggers your GNU AGPL v3 obligations. > The method of combining does not matter. When MinIO is linked to a larger software stack in any form, including statically, dynamically, pipes, or containerized and invoked remotely, the AGPL v3 applies to your use. What triggers the AGPL v3 obligations is the exchanging data between the larger stack and MinIO.
Needless to say that's all completely wrong and just FUD. I think the FSF should get involved they are damaging free software as a whole. Incredibly scummy company.
https://github.com/minio/minio/discussions/12895
Trying to read and understand.