The apache software foundation and the free software foundation agree that the apache license 2. The apache software foundation uses various licenses to distribute software and documentation, to accept regular contributions from individuals and corporations, and to accept larger grants of existing software products. Software licensing gpl agpl bsd mit apache eula youtube. The text should be enclosed in the appropriate comment syntax for the file format. Heres the second post in our free software license faq series. You can freely use, modify, distribute and sell a software licensed under the apache license without worrying about the use of software. Oct 16, 2019 according to research by white source, the most popular permissive licenses are mit and apache 2. If its worth money to you its important to get your licensing right. What is the difference between open source licenses mit. Powered by a free atlassian jira open source license for apache software foundation.
The apache software foundation provides support for the apache community of open source software projects. The long and short of itif you use open source software within your software development project, any permissive license should be fine. Jetbrains supports noncommercial open source projects by providing core project contributors with a set of bestinclass developer tools free of charge. The apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process, an open and pragmatic software license, and a desire by community of developers and users to create high quality software that leads the way in. Open source licenses grant permission for anybody to use, modify, and share licensed software for any purpose, subject to conditions preserving the provenance and openness of the software. I highlighted three of the more popular open source licenses that people tend to use. Heres the second post in our open source software license faq series. If you have some code you are thinking of releasing under an open source license, and you want a quick overview of the broadstrokes differences between these licenses, you have come to the right place. How to choose the best license for your open source software project getting the right license for your open source project can mean the difference between success and failure for your software. It is entirely free in every sense under the apache license, version 2. To apply the apache license to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets replaced with your own. Nov 08, 2015 software licensing gpl agpl bsd mit apache eula kris occhipinti. As a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide open source software for the.
Which of the following best describes your situation. As a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide open source software for the public good at no cost, the apache software foundation asf ensures that all apache projects provide both source and when available binary releases free of charge on our official apache. Dont miss to download the new release and find out yourself. A bright future was ahead for free software created for the greater good.
The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to none unlicense. Most surveys indicate that the vast majority of open source projects use the mit license, the apache license, and the gpl or their variants. The apache license is a free and open source software foss licensing agreement from the apache software foundation asf. Understanding open source and free software licensing. Apache license the free and open productivity suite. It is a technology suitable for nearly any application that requires fulltext search, especially crossplatform. Choosing the best open source license is one of the most important decisions you can make for a new project. What is the best open source license for commercialization. What is free software and is it the same as open source. Facebook changed the license of multiple libraries they develop. So how do you choose the most sensible an open source license. These licenses help us achieve our goal of providing reliable and longlived software products through collaborative open. These licenses, as applied to the original licensed code, allow that code to be used in proprietary software and do not require that open source versions of the.
Jun 21, 2016 most surveys indicate that the vast majority of open source projects use the mit license, the apache license, and the gpl or their variants. Weve compiled a list of your top 10 questions about the gpl license in the last post. Effortlessly track and comply with your open source licenses. Software licensing gpl agpl bsd mit apache eula kris occhipinti. If youre using the older one, you may wish to relicense your software under the newer one. To apply the apache license to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets replaced with your own identifying information. Available as open source software under the apache license which lets you use lucene in both commercial and open source. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. This is a comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Permissive opensource software licenses continue to gain.
The apache license is a permissive open source software license so you can release. This is not a free software license, because it restricts what jobs people can use the software for, and restricts in substantive ways what jobs modified versions of the program can do. Comparison of free and opensource software licenses. The jahia community source license is not a free software license. Tyler the open source initiative osi lists more than 50 approved open source licenses. In the release notes you can read about all new features, functions and. And of course, our new release doesnt affect the licensing for apache kafka at all. Gpl general public license is a free license software.
It is incompatible with the gnu gpl in several ways. In the release notes you can read about all new features, functions and languages. There are a lot of different open source licenses out there, and it can sometimes be a bit confusing if youre not intimate with the details of each one. Current releases available in apache software foundation distribution directory and its mirrors n. Choosing a license the hitchhikers guide to python. Use the license preferred by the community youre contributing to or depending on. Its a popular and widely deployed license backed by a. The official developer website of the apache openoffice open source project, home of openoffice writer, calc, impress, draw and base. Apachelicensed software can be used in your commercial project for free.
Yet, many foss licenses, like the apache license, and all free software licenses allow commercial use of foss components. The mit open source license is permissive in nature and also one of the. An open source license protects contributors and users. Differences in distribution, linking, modification, private use of open source licenses like mit, gnu gpl, apache 2. The apache projects are defined by collaborative consensus based processes, an open, pragmatic software license and a desire to create high quality software. It is important to make a difference between free software and open source. While the project strives to adhere to the preferred license, there. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project free. Among different versions of the license two versons are particularly important. I was wondering since the linux kernel in android is under a free license while the other software is under apache license. Use of the source code is limited to research purposes.
Apache lucene tm is a highperformance, fullfeatured text search engine library written entirely in java. As a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide open source software for the public good at no cost, the apache software foundation asf ensures that all apache projects provide both source and when available binary releases free of charge on our official apache project download pages. An opensource license allows for a software product to be shared in certain ways, or for some types of collaborative research or development. Jan 24, 2019 the microsoft public license is a free and open source software license released by microsoft, which wrote it for its projects that were released as open source. How open source licenses work and how to add them to your. Software development using open source and free software licenses. Community enforcement of open source and free software licenses 158 compatible and incompatible licensing. That said, we may not be releasing updates to the confluent open source. Understanding opensource and free software licensing medium. If the software developer did this, they would immediately lose their right to use the library under the apache license. Apr 09, 2020 apache openoffice is both an open source product and a project. The free software foundation recognizes the wtfpl as a gpl.
All of them are written for lawyers, not mere mortal software developers. What are the implications of different open source licenses. Please use the links on the right to access lucene. License apache directory studio apache software foundation. Because these licenses are relatively straightforward and selection from understanding open source and free software. Apache source code is always released under the apache license. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see list of free content licenses. How to choose the best license for your open source. Apache lucene is an open source project available for free download. Contribute to licenses license templates development by creating an account on github.
Tldrlegal software licenses explained in plain english. Apache mit licensed libraries in a closed source app. Apache software foundation free open source software. This is a comparison of free and open source software licenses. The mit, bsd, apache, and academic free licenses the mit and bsd licenses were two of the earliest open source licenses. Difference between freeware and open source software different types of open source licenses. The apache openoffice project announces the official release of version 4. Top 10 apache license questions answered whitesource. These files are designed to be used by lice, a commandline license generator for software. It includes desktop applications such as a word processor, a spreadsheet.
Free and opensource software portal comparison of free and open source software licenses software using the apache license category. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. Powered by a free atlassian confluence open source project license granted to apache software foundation. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared.
This is a lax, permissive free software license, compatible with the gnu gpl. You are free to reproduce and distribute original or derivative works of any software licensed under the mspl license. The apache license is a permissive open source software license so you can release your modified version of the apache licensed product under any license of your choice. Apache openoffice formerly known as is an open source office productivity software suite containing word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula editor, and database management applications. Apache mit licensed libraries in a closedsource app. Chapter 2, the mit, bsd, apache, and academic free licenses this chapter takes a close look at licenses.
The apache license is a permissive free software license written by the apache software. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the debian project or the fedora project. Most developers default to popular permissive licenses like mit, bsd or apache. In general, open source licensing allows the source code of a project to be open.
Software licenses in plain english lookup popular software licenses summarized ataglance. A short guide to open source licenses smashing magazine. Githubrecently, there was some exciting news for developers around the world. Openoffice is available in many languages, works on all common computers, stores data in odf the international open. Mar 24, 2010 many developers and designers want to release their work into the world as open source projects.
They want others to be able to build on and share their code. Apache software is always available for download free of charge from the asf and our apache projects. Because these licenses are relatively straightforward and selection from understanding open source and free software licensing book. Both have been verified as gplcompatible free software licenses, and have been accepted as open source licenses by the open source. And then you have yo, software group, which includes beer license. The open software license is a free software license. The gnu gplv3 is the most popular copyleft license but is steadily losing market share compared to permissive licenses. The derived work can indeed use a closed source license, as long as the other requirements of the apache license are met such as informing your users that parts of the software are licensed under the apache license. The open source community is vibrant because of this.
Businesses and savvy developers wont touch a project without this protection. An open source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and or shared under defined terms and conditions. Most designers use open source software or code on a regular basis wordpress, drupal and many. The android open source project aosp uses a few open source initiative approved open source licenses for our software. Free and opensource software portal comparison of free and opensource software licenses software using the apache license category. Learn what open source licenses are, which one to choose, and why it matters.
Kafka is an apache software foundation project, and therefore remains under the apache 2. Come and join us in helping apache openoffice to thrive. Let say a software developer uses a library for android phones to make a game, and then makes a patent claim in an attempt to extort license fees from other users wishing to make games using the same library. Choosing an open source or free software license 174 drafting open source licenses 176. The microsoft public license is a free and open source software license released by microsoft, which wrote it for its projects that were released as open source. Each license is anywhere from slightly to vastly unlike its neighbors. Open source software is available for virtually any application you could think of.
935 718 1379 246 1612 1464 306 1343 11 1068 824 1693 599 1651 1692 1242 208 231 1202 1235 424 943 592 733 1416 793 1267 623 1031 1492 1272 1291