Working in a semi-abelian context, we use Janelidze's theory of generalised
satellites to study universal properties of the Everaert long exact homology
sequence. This results in a new definition of homology which does not depend on
the existence of projective objects. We explore the relations with other
notions of homology, and thus prove a version of the higher Hopf formulae. We
also work out some examples.Comment: 29 pages; major changes in Example 4.15, minor changes throughout the
tex