Adapted from Wikipedia 9-6-2014 This is a comparison of published free software licenses.
General comparison
The following table compares various features of each license and is a general guide to the terms and conditions of each license.
Note that a "yes" in either of the last two columns (Link with code using a different license and Release changes under a different license) is not an absolute answer, there may still be restrictions in the license related to this action. You should review the specific license terms[1] and refer to the reference table[2] for more details regarding a "yes" in these columns. Also note that "no" in Link with code using a different license-column is not absolute, e.g. for GPL, see: GPL compatibility.
Approvals
This table lists for each license what organizations from the free software community have approved it - be it as a "free software" or as an "open source" license - and how those organizations categorize it. Organizations usually approve specific versions of software licenses. FSF approval means that the Free Software Foundation (FSF) considers the license free software as they don't approve of proprietary software, however they also recommend that licenses be at least "Compatible with GPL" and preferably copyleft (usually).
Article comparison[20]
License | Version | Include license | Include source | Linking | State changes | Commercial use | Distribution | Modification | Patent grant | Private use | Sublicensing | No liability | No trademark |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apache License | 2.0 | ||||||||||||
BSD 3-Clause License | |||||||||||||
BSD 2-Clause License | |||||||||||||
GNU General Public License | 2.0 | ||||||||||||
GNU General Public License | 3.0 | ||||||||||||
GNU Lesser General Public License | 2.1 | ||||||||||||
GNU Lesser General Public License | 3.0 | ||||||||||||
MIT License | |||||||||||||
Mozilla Public License | 2.0 | ||||||||||||
Eclipse Public License | 1.0 | ||||||||||||
Affero General Public License | |||||||||||||
Generic copyright [note 5] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Open Source Initiative. "The Approved Licenses". License Information. Open Source Initiative.
- ↑ Rusin, Zack. "Open Source Licenses Comparison". Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "Various Licenses and Comments about Them". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "To be GPL-Compatible has to be compatible with Licenses GNU GPLv3 and GNU GPLv2Template:Spaced ndashFree Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-Compatible Free Software LicensesTemplate:Spaced ndashFree Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-Incompatible Free Software LicensesTemplate:Spaced ndashFree Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-compatible Definition by FSFTemplate:Spaced ndashFree Software Foundation". GPL-compatible Definition. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-compatible Definition previous version by FSFTemplate:Spaced ndashFree Software Foundation". GPL-compatible Definition. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Copyfree Initiative. "Copyfree Licenses". Copyfree Initiative.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Rejected Licenses". CopyFree Initiative. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ↑ Debian. "DebianTemplate:Spaced ndashLicense information". Licenses. Debian.
- ↑ "The DFSG and Software Licenses". Debian wiki.
- ↑ Fedora. "LicensingTemplate:Spaced ndashFedoraProject". Licenses. Fedora Project.
- ↑ "Apple Public Source License (APSL), version 1.x". Retrieved 2013-08-07.
- ↑ "3-clause BSD License at OSI".
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "DFSGLicenses".
- ↑ "OSI Board Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, March 4, 2009".
- ↑ Free Software Foundation. "A Quick Guide to GPLv3". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
- ↑ Mozilla Foundation. "MPL 2.0 FAQ". Licenses. Mozilla Foundation.
- ↑ Github, Inc.. "Licenses - ChooseALicense.com". Retrieved 2014-05-31.
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