Affero GPL with PHP application and DB keys in localSettings.php

Question

I want to licence a non-trivial PHP application I have been working on under Affero GPL v3 (because I want every admin, who will use it, also release the source code).

However, something troubles me. I have a file localSettings.php, where the admin is supposed to write keys and some more information for MySQL database and some other secret info in the form

$dbPassword="mypassword";

and so on.

BUT. Under the AGPL, if he changes this, isn't he obliged to release the changed source code together with the secret credentials? (Because the file localSettings.php is, too, licensed under AGPL.)

Answer 1

As the author (more strictly speaking, the copyright holder), you're entitled to license anything any way you want. Just declare in your license that the localSettings.php is licensed differently, and not subject to the Aferro GPL. Stuff like this is done all the time (e.g., the GNU Classpath exception) when then authors decide they want to allow exceptions to the license restrictions for whatever reason they want. Heck, you could offer an exception for any file dated on a Thursday, because you were born on a Thursday.