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How to choose an open source license for a RAD framework on GitHub

In this article we will talk a little about copyright, but mainly about choosing a free license for the RAD IONDV framework . Framework and for open source products. We will talk about the Apache 2.0 license, what brought us to it and what solutions we encountered in the process.


The process of choosing a license is quite time-consuming and should be approached already fairly well-read, and if you are not a happy holder of a law degree, then you will have an open field of information about a variety of free licenses. The main thing that should be done is to make a number of limiting criteria. In the process of discussion and understanding you and the team will be able to understand what you want to allow users of your product and what to prohibit. When you already have some description on your hands, you need to impose it on the existing licenses and select the one where the greatest number of points coincided. It sounds, of course, simple, but in reality, usually even after discussion, questions remain.



First - a link to choosealicense.com , a useful site that we actively used. Especially pay attention to the comparative table of licenses by 13 main criteria. May the English and patience come with you.


Flour choice


Let's start with the general features of licenses for free software . OSS implies an exclusively free license, which does not restrict commercial and non-commercial distribution according to the Open Core model. Accordingly, spreading the software under a free license into the network cannot completely restrict its transfer, distribution and sale by third parties and you only need to prepare yourself morally.


A free license gives the user the right to participate in the reverse engineering of the software or modify it in other available ways. Most licenses do not allow renaming the product or carrying out any manipulations with it, changing the rights of the author or / and the owner of the system.


The main questions that interested us about free licenses were:


  1. Changes made to the software should be recorded and have no relation to the copyright holder of the system?
  2. The name of the derivative software should not coincide with the name of the software holder?
  3. Is it possible to change the license for any new versions to another, including the proprietary one?

Carefully looking at the list of the most common licenses, we chose several, which were considered in more detail. Potential licenses for IONDV. Framwork were: GNU GPLv3, Apache 2.0, MIT, and MPL. MIT was almost immediately eliminated, this is a permissive non-copyright license, which allows the use, modification and distribution of the code almost as you like, but we were not satisfied with this option, we still wanted the license to regulate the relationship between the copyright holder and the user. Most of the not very large projects on GitHub are laid out under the MIT license or its various variations. The license itself is very short, and from the prohibitions only the indication of authorship of the creator of the software.


Next was the MPL 2.0 license. Frankly, we did not immediately come to it, but after studying in more detail we quickly excluded it, since the main drawback of this is that the license is applied not for the entire project, but for individual files. In addition, if the user changes the file, then the license cannot be changed. In fact, no matter how diligently you change the Open Source project, you will not be able to monetize it because of such a license. This by the way does not apply to the copyright holder.


A similar problem persists with the GNU GPLv3 license . It requires that any file remain under it. The GNU GPL is a copyleft license, which requires that the source code of derivative works be open and remain under the same license. That is: by rewriting two lines of code, you will be forced to commit your changes and, with further use or distribution, save the code under the GNU GPL. In this case, it is a limiting factor for the user of our project, and not for us. But changing the GPL to any other license is prohibited, even within versions of the GPL. For example, if you change the LGPL (add-on over the GPL) to the GPL, then there will be no way back to the LGPL. And this item was decisive in voting against.


In general, our choice was initially inclined towards GPL3 precisely because of the distribution of the modified code under the same license. We thought that by doing so we could secure our product, but we saw less risk in Apache 2.0. According to the Free Software Foundation, GPLv3 is compatible with the Apache License v2.0., That is, there is always the option to change the license from the Apache License v2.0 to GPL v3.0.


Apache 2.0


Apache 2.0 is a balanced permit license with an emphasis on copyright. Here are the answers she gave to our questions. Changes made to the software should be recorded and have no relation to the copyright holder of the system? Yes, all changes must be documented and we are not responsible for the source code, nor for the modified one. The file with the changes should be attached to the code in which you made these changes. The name of the derivative software should not coincide with the name of the software holder? Yes, derivative software must go under a different name and under a different trademark, but with indication of the authorship of the copyright holder. Is it possible to change the license for any new versions to another, including the proprietary one? Yes, you can release under different licenses, Apache 2.0 does not limit the use of any non-commercial and commercial licenses.


Also, releasing new products based on open code under Apache 2.0 or additional functionality products does not necessarily use the same license. Below you can see the image with the terms and restrictions of the Apache 2.0 license.



The license makes the requirement of preserving and mentioning the copyright and the license under which the software is issued. Mandatory copyright notice with the name of the copyright holder and the license protects the rights of the original author of the software, since even if it is renamed, given away or sold under a different license, the sign of the author will still remain. You can also use the NOTICE file for this and attach it either to the source code or to the project documentation.


We release all our products to GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license, except for IONDV. War archive , the source code of which in April of this year was published under the GPLv3 license on GitHub by the Far Eastern Center for Social Technologies. At the moment, besides the framework itself and its modules , applications made on the framework have been published. On Habré, we already talked about the Project Management System and the Registry of Communications .


Those. framework details

IONDV. Framework is an open source framework for node.js for creating high-level web applications based on metadata, which does not require serious programming skills.


The basis of the application functionality is the data registry - the Register module. This is a key module designed specifically for working with data based on metadata structures - including project management, programs, events, etc. Also, the project uses a portal module to display arbitrary data templates - it implements the front of the archive files registry.


For the DBMS, MongoDb is used - it stores the application settings, metadata, and the data itself.


How to apply a license to your project?


Add the LICENSE file with the license text to the repository of your project and voilĂ , the project protected by Apache 2.0. You need to specify the copyright holder, this is a copiright notice . This can be done in the source code or in the NOTICE file (a text file listing all libraries licensed under the Apache license along with the names of their creators). The file itself should be put either in the source code or in the documentation distributed with the work. Here it looks like this:


Copyright © 2018 LLC "ION DV".
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0

Apache 2.0 license text

Apache License
Version 2.0 January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/


TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION


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License = contract


Free license, although it is free, it does not allow permissiveness and we have already given examples of restrictions. Choose a license considering both your interests and the user, because open source software is designed specifically for him. The project user should take the license as a kind of contract between him and the copyright holder, so before you take any action on the source code, carefully review the restrictions imposed on you by the project license.


We hope that we have shed a little light on the topic of licenses and, despite the complexity of the issue, it should not be an obstacle on your way to Open Source. Develop your project and do not forget about the rights, their own and others.


useful links


Finally, some useful resources that helped us find information about existing licenses and select the most suitable for our purposes:



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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/459732/


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