Top 10 apache license questions answered whitesource. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. Describes the ability to use the software for commercial purposes. Oct 17, 2017 the license of your source code must be compatible with the license of the open source code you are linking to.
For programmers whose primary intention is to improve the general quality of available software, it is arguable that there is no better license than the bsd. How to use bsd licensebased products for commercial use. Bsd licenses are a low restriction type of license for open source software that does not put requirements on redistribution as a low restriction and requirement license type, berkeley source distribution licenses are used for the distribution of many freeware, shareware and open source software. Questions about the in a license should be directed to. No license is required for export of this software to nonembargoed countries. How to use bsd licensebased products for commercial use quora. Can i use new bsd licensed librarycode in commercial. Bsd 2clause license freebsdsimplified explained in plain.
Copyleft licenses such as the gnu gpl insist that modified versions of the program must be free software as well. For instance, if your code is proprietary, you wont be allowed to use a library under the gpl license. Licensed works, modifications, and larger works may be distributed under different terms and without source code. Why you should use a bsd style license for your open source project.
Bsd license problem gnu project free software foundation. Redisearch, redisgraph, redisjson, redisml, redisbloom are licensed under the redis source. How open source licenses work and how to add them to your. 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.
The original bsdlicense has four clauses, including a advertisementclause. The bsd license unlike some other licenses does not require that source code be distributed at all. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project free. Apr 19, 2004 due to the extremely minimal restrictions of bsd style licenses, software released under such licenses can be freely modified and used in proprietary i. The mit or bsd licenses are perfectly acceptable after all, theyre used for whole oss and lots of independent programs.
Redis licensing overview redis is open sourced, available under the 3clausebsd license. In 2008, following on from a vote amongst the membership of the netbsd foundation, and in recognition of the changing face of software licensing, the netbsd foundation has changed its recommended license to be a 2 clause bsd license. Bsd licenses are much like the license that accompanied the original bsd. Bsd zero clause license the bsd zero clause license goes further than the bsd 2clause license to allow you unlimited freedom with the software without requirements to include the notice, license text, or disclaimer in either source or binary forms. Preamble the berkeley software distribution bsd license has proven very effective over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both commercial and noncommercial products. Company can switch opensource software to commercial software without disclosing its source code. In exchange for the promises and covenants made herein and other good and valuable consideration, bsd grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, termlimited, userlimited license to access and use speclink cloud, an online software service the saas services, as described in the product documentation for the purpose of evaluating the saas solution for purchase by you or. Browse other questions tagged commercial bsd proprietarycode closedsource python or ask your own question. Due to their permissive nature, they have very relaxed conditions about redistributing software licensed under them.
We urge you not to use the original bsd license for software you write. Works based on the material may be released under a proprietary license as closed source software, allowing usual commercial usages under. The bsd 2clause license the following is a bsd 2clause license template. There are many variants of simple noncopyleft free software licenses, such as the expat license, freebsd license, x10 license, the x11 license, and the two bsd berkeley software distribution licenses. Python also has its own license python software foundation license i was wondering like gpl it also mandates the author to release source code to its users its a bsd style license. A permissive license similar to the bsd 2clause license, but with a 3rd clause that prohibits others from using the name of the project or its contributors to promote derived products without written consent. If you are a commercial software developer that depends on selling your own software in the marketplace, however, it is important to understand the legal. This bsd license is compatible with all common open source and commercial software licenses. While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software. These licenses are compatible with free opensource software licenses and proprietary software licenses. Asf 3rd party license policy the apache software foundation. Anyone can modify and distribute the source code with minimal restrictions. License bsd 3clause clear license bsd 3clause new or revised license creative commons attribution 4.
The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to none unlicense. Microsoft used code from bsd unix to add tcpip support to windows in the 90s, so that you could connect to the internet. This software and derivatives may be used for commercial purposes. Bsd licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the redistribution of covered software. The bsd 3clause license revised summarizedexplained in plain. If the bsd license in question is the two or threeclause variant i. Aug 19, 2014 bsd licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the redistribution of covered software. If you want to use a lax, permissive noncopyleft free software license, it is much better to use the modified bsd license, the x11 license or the expat license. A bsd license gives a small company the equivalent of software inescrow without any legal complications or costs. While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a condition that. If a bsdlicensed program becomes orphaned, a company can simply take over, in a proprietary manner, the program on which they are dependent.
If you do not agree to this license, do not download, install, copy or use the software. Bsd 3clause license revised explained in plain english. By downloading, copying, installing or using the software you agree to this license. The freebsd project argues on the advantages of bsd style licenses for companies and commercial usecases due to their license compatibility with proprietary licenses and general flexibility, stating that the bsd style licenses place only minimal restrictions on future behavior and arent legal timebombs, unlike copyleft licenses. For programmers whose primary intention is to improve the general quality of available software, it is arguable that there is no better license than the bsd license, as it permits improvements to. Stallman devised an alternative to the commercial software license and called it the gpl, or gnu public license. Pages in category software using the bsd license the following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 364 total. Even better, for a substantial program, use the apache 2. Bsd 2clause license freebsdsimplified explained in. Most of them are equivalent except for details of wording, but the license used for bsd until 1999 had a special problem. Use of bsd3 clause license and python software license for proprietary use.
Earlier versions of the apache license were identical to the original and later the modified bsd licenses, but apache license 2. See how to choose a license for your own work for general recommendations about choosing a license for your work the two major categories of free software license are copyleft and noncopyleft. Works based on the material may be released under a proprietary license as closed source. Bsd license definition by the linux information project. Licensing agreements can be general and apply to all users, like an eula. You are not required to allow your users to redistribute the binaries either. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. The bsd 3clause license the following is a bsd 3clause bsd new or bsd simplified license template. To generate your own license, change the values of owner, organization and year from their original values as given here, and substitute your own. As a recipient of dojo, you may choose which license to receive this code under except as noted in permodule license files.
The terms of a license are outlined in a document called a license or licensing agreement. A license is an agreement between a developer and user on how a software product can be used. Bsd protection license software package data exchange. Attribution assurance license 25 boost software license 48 bsd license 15,762 common development and distribution license 85 common public attribution license 1. The sleepycat license sleepycat open source initiative. The bsd license allows proprietary use and allows the software released under the license to be incorporated into proprietary products. Other agreements are more specific to a particular user. The gnu public license and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that are derivatives of the gnu ed code. The content on this website, of which is the author, is licensed under a creative commons attribution 4. The 3clause modified bsd license includes a nonendorsement clause, which says users dont have the right to market software using bsdlicensed components in such a way that their product appears to be endorsed by the original developers. It is possible for a product to be distributed under a bsd style license and for some other license to apply as well. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files the software, to deal in the software without restriction, including wit.
Why you should use a bsd style license for your open source. Github issue created to ask react to change their license facebook explaining reacts license hacker new comment about facebooks explaining the license hacker news comment on preact. The bsd license is a simple license that merely requires that all code retain the bsd license notice if redistributed in source code format, or reproduce the notice if redistributed in binary format. The bsd license allows proprietary use and allows the software released under the license to be incorporated. From this family, the most common licenses are the 3clause bsd license and the 2clause license. Bsd3 clause is a very permissive license that does not require you disclosing your source code or the source code of the open source libraries. Can you use software under mit licence for commercial use.
The bsd license is another highly permissible license that allows you to modify and redistribute software licensed under the bsd license as you like. This advertisementclause is incompatible with the gpl, so you cannot redistribute it as gpl, the same as you cannot combine it with gplcode the modified bsdlicenses drop this clause and make bsd compatible with gpl. A key effect of the gpl, making a complete and competitive open source system widely available at cost of media, is a reasonable goal. Use of the term bsd license refers to licenses that use versions of a bsd license as a template. The more rapidly and easily the cooperating members can do this, the more successful they will be. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have. It was first used in 1980 for the berkeley source distribution bsd, also known as bsd unix, an enhanced version of the original unix operating system that was first written in 1969 by ken thompson at bell labs. Open source stack exchange is a question and answer site for people organizing, marketing or licensing open source development projects. Why you should use a bsd style license for your open. Redis modules, which are addons on top of redis, are created by people in the community and bear different licenses according to each creators choice. It was first used in 1980 for the berkeley source distribution bsd, also known as bsd unix, an enhanced version of the original unix operating system that was developed by ken thompson at bell labs beginning in 1969.
Linus torvalds says gpl v3 violates everything that gplv2 stood for duration. The bsd zero clause license goes further than the bsd 2clause license to allow you unlimited freedom with the software without requirements to include the notice, license text, or disclaimer in either source or binary forms. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met. Bsd protection license software package data exchange spdx. A bsd license gives a small company the equivalent of softwareinescrow without any legal complications or costs. Nov 05, 2015 bsd licenses or the original bsd license and its two variants the modified license 3clause, and the simplified licensefreebsd license 2clause are a family of permissive free software licenses. The berkeley software distribution bsd license has proven very effective over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both commercial and noncommercial products. Nov 08, 2015 linus torvalds says gpl v3 violates everything that gplv2 stood for duration. You can do whatever and dont need to provide the source. Can i use new bsd licensed librarycode in commercial closed. Paraview uses a permissive bsd license that enables the broadest possible audience, including commercial organizations, to use the software, royalty free, for most purposes. The main purpose of both these licenses is to allow people to use, distribute, and modify your code, but preserve your credit, license method, and disclaimer of warranties.
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