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      @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@=                   @@@@
                                           @`

                 [deroad's  blog]
                      [home]

# 2026-03-01 | Open Source Licenses
{
  - What is Open Source and what is the difference with Free and Open Source ?

  Open Source only refers to the release of code that can be inspected by anybody, but
  can forbid usage, modification, or distribution.
  Free and Open Source means that the shared source has a license which doesn't impose
  any restriction on usage, modification, or distribution.

  - How one chooses the License for Open Source projects?

  Well, licenses are complicated! There are many of them and each one has a pros and
  cons, but what you need to ask yourself is:

   * What restrictions do you want to impose? 
   * Can people use it in closed source projects? 
   * Do they need to submit all their changes upstream? 
   * Can people re-license it?

  Once you answer these questions you can easily find a license which can fulfill your
  requirements.

  Once done this you can go on https://opensource.org/licenses and search for a
  license that matches with your needs.

  Below you can find some of the most common licenses and their meanings.
The MIT License
This is the most permissive license.
Permissions Conditions Limitations
  • Commercial Use
  • Distribution
  • Modification
  • Private Use
  • Must include a copy of the License and copyright
  • No Liability
  • No Warranty
Apache 2.0 License
Permissive and community friendly.
Permissions Conditions Limitations
  • Commercial Use
  • Distribution
  • Modification
  • Private Use
  • Patent use
  • Must include a copy of the License and copyright
  • Changes must be documented
  • No Liability
  • No Warranty
  • No Trademark usage
3-Clause BSD License
Permissive and does not require maintainance.
Permissions Conditions Limitations
  • Commercial Use
  • Distribution
  • Modification
  • Private Use
  • Must include a copy of the License and copyright
  • Commercial use must include a copy of the BSD-3 License
  • No Liability
  • No Warranty
  • No Trademark usage
"The BSD license is great for code you don't care about"
Linus Torvalds
GNU General Public v3.0 License
Strong copyleft license which requires the release of the sources.
Permissions Conditions Limitations
  • Commercial Use
  • Distribution
  • Modification
  • Private Use
  • Patent use
  • Must include a copy of the License and copyright
  • Changes must be documented
  • Changes must be released under GPLv3
  • Must release sources, including close sources when distributed
  • No Liability
  • No Warranty
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works.
GNU Lesser General Public v3.0 License
Like GPL3 but less restrictive when used in close source projects.
Permissions Conditions Limitations
  • Commercial Use
  • Distribution
  • Modification
  • Private Use
  • Patent use
  • Must include a copy of the License and copyright
  • Changes must be documented
  • Changes must be released under GPLv3
  • Must release the modified sources unless used as library
  • No Liability
  • No Warranty
 

}

# References:
  OSI Approved Licenses
  https://opensource.org/licenses