84 · Representative Documents: OSS Licenses
OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE
Open Source Licenses
http://opensource.org/licenses
Open Source Licenses |Open Source Initiative
http://opensource.org/licenses[6/26/14 12:01:50 PM]
About Open Source Licenses
Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the Open Source Definition
in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. To be
approved by the Open Source Initiative (also known as the OSI), a license must
go through the Open Source Initiative's license review process.
Popular Licenses
The following OSI-approved licenses are popular, widely used, or have strong
communities (as defined in the 2006 Proliferation Report):
Apache License 2.0
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" license
BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" or "FreeBSD" license
GNU General Public License (GPL)
GNU Library or "Lesser" General Public License (LGPL)
MIT license
Mozilla Public License 2.0
Common Development and Distribution License
Eclipse Public License
All Approved Licenses
Many other licenses are also OSI-approved, but fall into other categories, such
as special-purpose licenses, superseded licenses, or retired licenses. Complete
lists that include all approved licenses are available:
sorted by name (alphabetical)
sorted by category
Questions?
The OSI maintains a FAQ, which includes a lot of useful background on open
source licensing, including:
Can Open Source software be used for commercial purposes?
What is "free software" and is it the same as "open source"?
What is "copyleft"? Is it the same as "open source"?
What is a "permissive" Open Source license?
Open Source Licenses
Open Source Initiative
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