Open source license


Open source license

(legal)Any document that attempts to specify open sourceusage and distribution of software. These licenses areusually drafted by experts and are likely to be more legallysound than one a programmer could write. However, loopholesdo exist.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of open source licenses:

1. Public Domain - No license.

2. BSD License - An early open source license

3. General Public License (GPL) - The copyleft license ofthe Free Software Foundation. Used for GNU software andmuch of Linux.

4. Artistic License Less restrictivethan the GPL, permitted by Perl in addition to the GPL.

5. Mozilla Public Licenses.(MPL, MozPL) and Netscape Public License (NPL).

["Open Sources", pub. O'Reilly, full text].