Submission declined on 18 July 2026 by Sulfurboy (talk). This draft's references do not show that the subject meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that: provide significant coverage: discuss the subject in detail, not just brief mentions or routine announcements; are reliable: from reputable outlets with editorial oversight; are independent: not connected to the subject, such as interviews, press releases, the subject's own website, or sponsored content. Please add references that meet all three of these criteria. If none exist, the subject is not yet suitable for Wikipedia. If you would like to continue working on the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window. If you have not resolved the issues listed above, your draft will be declined again and potentially deleted. If you need extra help, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. Please do not remove reviewer comments or this notice until the submission is accepted. Where to get help If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews. If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed. How to improve a draft Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia. Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Add tags to your draft Editor resources Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs Declined by Sulfurboy 28 days ago. Last edited by Sulfurboy 28 days ago. Reviewer: Inform author. Resubmit Please note that if the issues are not fixed, the draft will be declined again.

Archa License is a source-available, fair source software license first published in 2026. It is designed to provide a sustainable alternative to permissive open source licenses such as the MIT License and Apache License 2.0.

The license preserves unrestricted use for individuals, researchers, students, and small businesses, while requiring larger commercial organizations that exceed a defined growth threshold to contribute back through sponsorship, commercial licensing, or open-sourcing their modifications. The official specification is maintained at https://newssungoldentoday-dev.github.io/archalics/^[1]

According to its preamble, the Archa License is built on three core principles:

1. Free for individuals to learn, build, and share.
2. Fair for growing businesses that benefit from the commons.
3. Protected for maintainers against extractive use by large-scale commercial actors.

The license states it is inspired by the MIT License, Apache License 2.0, and the Fair Source movement. It seeks to be a practical default for independent software that wants to remain open without being exploited.

The Archa License was created in response to growing concerns about maintainer burnout and the commercial extraction of open source software by large cloud providers and platform companies.

While permissive licenses like MIT and Apache 2.0 enabled widespread adoption and innovation, they did not provide a mechanism for maintainers to capture value when their work was used as a core part of profitable, large-scale hosted services.

Inspired by discussions around the Business Source License created by MariaDB, the Server Side Public License from MongoDB, and the broader Fair Source movement, Archa attempts to define a balanced compromise.

The name Archa is derived from the concept of an archive or foundation, representing an attempt to preserve the software commons for future builders.

The full text of Archa License Version 1.0 is divided into seven sections.

Licensor means the individual or entity that offers the Software under this License.

Software means the source code, object code, documentation, and other materials made available under this License.

Threshold Entity means an organization that, together with its affiliates, exceeds either one hundred full-time employees or five million United States dollars in annual gross revenue in its most recent fiscal year.

Commercial Use means use for a commercial purpose, including as part of a product or service offered to third parties for a fee.

Delayed Open means that contributions become available under the MIT License after a specified Change Date.

Attribution requires that users must retain all copyright, attribution, and license notices.

Fair Use for Growth is the central clause. If the user is not a Threshold Entity, commercial use is permitted freely. If the user is a Threshold Entity, commercial use requires compliance through one of three options. The first option is a commercial license agreement. The second option is becoming a Sponsor at or above the tier defined in the LICENSE_SPONSOR file. The third option is releasing modifications under the same License with a Delayed Open Change Date no later than eighteen months.

Big Tech Protection states that no Threshold Entity may offer the Software as a standalone hosted service that is a direct substitute for the Software's primary functionality without a written agreement.

No Trademark Grant states that no trademark rights are granted.

Each contributor grants a perpetual patent license. Rights terminate automatically upon non-compliance with a thirty day cure period. The Software is provided AS IS without warranty. Liability is capped at one hundred United States dollars.

If a CHANGE_DATE file is present, for example containing 2027-08-12, the Software automatically becomes dual-licensed under the MIT License on that date.

A typical implementation includes a LICENSE file, a LICENSE_SPONSOR file, and an optional CHANGE_DATE file. In package metadata the license is declared as License-Ref-Archa-1.0.

In 2026, Archa License 1.0 was submitted to the SPDX License List as pull request 3036. The submission was closed by maintainer Steve Winslow with the label new license exception Not Accepted, stating no evidence of substantial use other than the license site itself. Similar decisions were issued for submissions 3013, 3015, 3017, and 3018.

Under SPDX rules, inclusion requires substantial use and compliance with open source principles. Because Archa restricts commercial use for Threshold Entities, it is classified as source-available rather than open source. As a result, Archa remains a valid custom license under the LicenseRef namespace, which is the established practice for licenses such as Business Source License and Server Side Public License.

• Open-source license
• Source-available software
• Fair source
• Business Source License
• Server Side Public License

Archa License was Developed by BlueBixt or Newssungoldentoday-dev . Warning!: Please don't change the article or else the author will change it tommorow

• https://github.com/newssungoldentoday-dev/archalics^[2]
• https://newssungoldentoday-dev.github.io/archalics/^[3]