Free licenses
Having dealt with the main types of software in the previous topic and, finally, having understood the differences between free software and open source, it is time to deal with licenses. I was interested in licenses only for free and open source software, so they will be discussed.
It is better to immediately understand the concept of "copyleft" . “Copyright Left” uses copyright laws to ensure that it is impossible for any person to restrict the rights to use, modify and distribute both the work itself and the works based on it. The idea is that everyone who distributes the program, both with and without changes, does not have the right to restrict the freedom of its further distribution or modification. «Copyleft» guarantees that each user is free in their actions. The author of the concept is the same Richard Stallman.
Now actually licenses themselves. I will not consider all existing licenses - firstly, many letters, and secondly, not very interesting. I will write only about those who have received the greatest distribution.
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1) GNU General Public License (GNU General Public License, GPL)
The GNU General Public License (GNU General Public License, or GNU open source license agreement) is currently the most popular free software license. The first version appeared in the framework of the GNU project in 1988. This license is also called the GNU GPL, or simply the GPL, if it is clear from the context that we are talking about this license (there are other licenses containing the words "general public license" in the title). The second version of this license was released in 1991, the third version, after many years of work and long discussion - in 2007 (read the third version here ).
The purpose of the GNU GPL is to provide the user of the software with such rights that are by default prohibited by copyright law, and to ensure that other users of all derived (modified) programs will receive exactly the same extended rights. Under this license, the developer, making any changes to the open source code, will further provide his source code to each user upon request. It is important that in this case the authors disclaim all responsibility for how their product will be used and what consequences its use may cause. The only thing that is explicitly prohibited is the closure of the source codes after their modification. In principle, this is "copyleft" (see above).
2) Berkeley University Software License (Berkeley Software Distribution, abbreviated BSD)
BSD was developed on the Berkeley campus of the University of California for BSD versions of UNIX. Therefore, the rights to the original BSD distribution are officially owned by the trustees of the University of California (Regents of the University of California), the governing body of the University of California (license template here ). Currently, BSD licenses are one of the most popular licenses for free software and are used for many programs.
This license also provides unrestricted use in third-party development, but, unlike the GPL, allows you to make the product closed in the future. That is, the BSD license imposes fewer restrictions on the user than a regular copyright, but more than copyleft.
3) Mozilla Public License - MPL
Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker during her employment as a lawyer with Netscape Communications Corporation. Version 1.1 was developed as part of the Mozilla Foundation (the license is here ). MPL contains the features of a modified BSD license and the GNU GPL. An MPL license is considered to provide weak copyleft. Source code copied or modified under the MPL license must be licensed under the MPL rules. Unlike more rigorous free licenses, the code under the MPL license can be combined in one program with proprietary files. The MPL has “some complex limitations” that make it incompatible with the GNU GPL.
Used as a license for Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and other programs developed as part of the Mozilla project (http://www.mozilla.org/). The source code copied or modified under the MPL license must be licensed under the MPL rules. Unlike more strict free licenses, the code under the MPL license can be combined in one program with closed files. It has also been adapted by other developers, especially Sun Microsystems, as a license (Common Development and Distribution License) for OpenSolaris, an open source version of Solaris.
4) Free licenses based on the previous three
These include Artistic, Affero, Apache, LGPL (Lesser GPL - lightweight version of the GPL), MIT / X11, ZPL, Sun Public License, gSOAP Public License and many others. To a varying degree, they are all supplemented and modified (in order to facilitate or strengthen the “copyleft”) free licenses listed above (you can view all licenses )
I do not pretend either to the novelty or to the exclusivity of the above information. It was interesting to me. Maybe you will too?
It is better to immediately understand the concept of "copyleft" . “Copyright Left” uses copyright laws to ensure that it is impossible for any person to restrict the rights to use, modify and distribute both the work itself and the works based on it. The idea is that everyone who distributes the program, both with and without changes, does not have the right to restrict the freedom of its further distribution or modification. «Copyleft» guarantees that each user is free in their actions. The author of the concept is the same Richard Stallman.
Now actually licenses themselves. I will not consider all existing licenses - firstly, many letters, and secondly, not very interesting. I will write only about those who have received the greatest distribution.
')
1) GNU General Public License (GNU General Public License, GPL)
The GNU General Public License (GNU General Public License, or GNU open source license agreement) is currently the most popular free software license. The first version appeared in the framework of the GNU project in 1988. This license is also called the GNU GPL, or simply the GPL, if it is clear from the context that we are talking about this license (there are other licenses containing the words "general public license" in the title). The second version of this license was released in 1991, the third version, after many years of work and long discussion - in 2007 (read the third version here ).
The purpose of the GNU GPL is to provide the user of the software with such rights that are by default prohibited by copyright law, and to ensure that other users of all derived (modified) programs will receive exactly the same extended rights. Under this license, the developer, making any changes to the open source code, will further provide his source code to each user upon request. It is important that in this case the authors disclaim all responsibility for how their product will be used and what consequences its use may cause. The only thing that is explicitly prohibited is the closure of the source codes after their modification. In principle, this is "copyleft" (see above).
2) Berkeley University Software License (Berkeley Software Distribution, abbreviated BSD)
BSD was developed on the Berkeley campus of the University of California for BSD versions of UNIX. Therefore, the rights to the original BSD distribution are officially owned by the trustees of the University of California (Regents of the University of California), the governing body of the University of California (license template here ). Currently, BSD licenses are one of the most popular licenses for free software and are used for many programs.
This license also provides unrestricted use in third-party development, but, unlike the GPL, allows you to make the product closed in the future. That is, the BSD license imposes fewer restrictions on the user than a regular copyright, but more than copyleft.
3) Mozilla Public License - MPL
Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker during her employment as a lawyer with Netscape Communications Corporation. Version 1.1 was developed as part of the Mozilla Foundation (the license is here ). MPL contains the features of a modified BSD license and the GNU GPL. An MPL license is considered to provide weak copyleft. Source code copied or modified under the MPL license must be licensed under the MPL rules. Unlike more rigorous free licenses, the code under the MPL license can be combined in one program with proprietary files. The MPL has “some complex limitations” that make it incompatible with the GNU GPL.
Used as a license for Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and other programs developed as part of the Mozilla project (http://www.mozilla.org/). The source code copied or modified under the MPL license must be licensed under the MPL rules. Unlike more strict free licenses, the code under the MPL license can be combined in one program with closed files. It has also been adapted by other developers, especially Sun Microsystems, as a license (Common Development and Distribution License) for OpenSolaris, an open source version of Solaris.
4) Free licenses based on the previous three
These include Artistic, Affero, Apache, LGPL (Lesser GPL - lightweight version of the GPL), MIT / X11, ZPL, Sun Public License, gSOAP Public License and many others. To a varying degree, they are all supplemented and modified (in order to facilitate or strengthen the “copyleft”) free licenses listed above (you can view all licenses )
I do not pretend either to the novelty or to the exclusivity of the above information. It was interesting to me. Maybe you will too?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/40293/
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