The psfl is listed as approved on both fsfs approved licenses list, and osi s approved licenses list. Acting on the advice of the license approval chair, the osi board today approved the microsoft public license and the microsoft reciprocal license. Fsfs free software and osis opensource licenses together are called foss licenses. The formal evaluation of these licenses began in august and the discussion of these licenses was vigourous and thorough. Which fsf or osiapproved licenses limit corporate usage in. They share a patent peace clause, a notrademarklicense clause. 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 without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, andor sell copies of the software, and to permit. Mongodb withdraws sspl from open source initiative. The fsf considers the do what the fuck you want to public license, wtfpl, as well as the unlicense, to be reasonable licenses for free software, but folks may not see software licensed with them as open source, since they are not osi approved. The difference between free and opensource software.
In general seems to have almost no opinions published about it yet. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the debian project or the fedora project. Some of these rules are about not only using the software, but also making changes to the software. The open source initiative osi has certified two of microsoft corp. Russ nelson writes in a board meeting held october 10th and announced today, the open source initiative approved two of microsofts software licenses. As of 2015, according to black duck software better source needed and a 2015 blog from github, the mit license was the most popular free software license, with the gnu gplv2 coming second in their sample of repositories.
The following osiapproved licenses are popular, widely used, or have strong communities. Its fairly easy to see that the famous licences gnu gpl appear on both lists, but how similar are their approvals there was a comparison at asheeshworld notes you will like. Contribute software you develop, operate, or analyze with this software. After a monthslong fight to get a stamp of approval from the open source initiative, mongodb is withdrawing from the process of having its controversial new software license approved to. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have sharealike requirements. To be approved by the open source initiative also known as the osi, a license must go. Sun and ibm and combine it under the same license, rather than dealing with the fact 2 teams of lawyers were involved thus creating two incompatible license texts. This class of license puts very few restrictions on use of the code. Spdx license list software package data exchange spdx.
After a submission process of over a year and three versions, the cal was approved last week by osi. There are licenses accepted by the osi which are not free as per the free. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in. Osi approved yes if the open source initiative has approved the license, no if not. Attribution assurance license 2 boost software license 1 bsd license 106. The apache license is a free software license made by the apache software foundation to set rules on how the software they created may be used by others. I think thats the wrong answer, and that osi license approval is the crucial innovation thats driven the open source revolution.
As a public domain like license, the wtfpl is essentially the same as dedication to the public domain. Jul 12, 2017 i think thats the wrong answer, and that osi license approval is the crucial innovation thats driven the open source revolution. The free software foundation and the open source initiative both publish lists of licenses that they find to comply with their own definitions of free software and opensource software respectively. The free software foundation recognizes the wtfpl as a gplcompatible free software license but does not recommend its use. It considers free software permissive license group to be a reference implementation of a free software license. In the interpretation of the fsf, opensource license criteria focus on the availability of the source code and the ability to modify and share it, while free software licenses focuses on the users freedom to use the program, to modify it, and to share it. Tag osi approved licenses 20 january 19 20 january 22 by taylor. In the same way, the debian project has its own criteria, the debian free software guidelines, on which the open source definition is based. Anyone can take a license to the osi for debate and discussion and if approved as meeting the osd, then the license is added to the canonical list. Anyone can take a license to the osi for debate and discussion and if approved as meeting the osd, then the license is. The fsf considers the do what the fuck you want to public license, wtfpl, as well as the unlicense, to be reasonable licenses for free software, but folks may not see software licensed with them as open source, since they are not osiapproved.
Osi agrees with fsf on all widely used free software licenses, but differ from fsfs list, as it approves against the open source definition rather than the free software definition. It would be nice since this project is using the term open source, if it accordingly used an official open source license approved by the open source initiative. After a monthslong fight to get a stamp of approval from the open source initiative, mongodb is withdrawing from the process of having its controversial new software license approved to be called. A guide to choosing an open source license for your work. Open source licenses grant permission for anybody to use, modify, and share licensed software for any purpose, subject to conditions preserving the provenance. Most free software licenses are also considered opensource software licenses. Osi and fsf licence approval comparison 20090218 by mjr the open source initiative and the free software foundation are probably the two authorities on what is free and open source software that are better respected than the debian project. The group open source initiative osi defines and maintains a list of approved opensource licenses.
Free software darling sugarcrm blasts osi the register. Open source licenses by category open source initiative. These licenses are refreshingly short and clean, compared to, say, the gplv3 and the sun cddl. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see list of free content licenses. Licenses that are listed on the osi website alphabetical. The community raised questions that microsoft and others answered. The open source initiative osi is a nonprofit corporation that advocates the benefits of open source, maintains the open source definition and provides a list of osi approve licenses. Which fsf or osiapproved licenses limit corporate usage. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project free.
Comparison of free and opensource software licenses wikipedia. The main categories mentioned for foss licenses refer to permissive, weak copyleft and strong copyleft licenses. The zlib license has been approved by the free software foundation fsf as a free software license, and by the open source initiative osi as an open source license. The python software foundation license psfl is a bsdstyle, permissive free software license which is compatible with the gnu general public license gpl. Free software yes if the license meets the free software definition, no if not. It is essentially identical to the x11 license, with an optional alternative way of providing license notices. Jul 07, 2015 my guess would be the gnu gpl v2 or maybe v1, and here is why.
It is functionally equivalent to the simplified bsd and mit licenses, but without language deemed unnecessary following the berne convention. In general, packages without an open source license specifically one approved by osi are not allowed in obs exceptions to this policy will be done for the opensuse distribution and those packages are in the nonfree projects of opensuse, e. People should write software with no expectation of making money. Apache license simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Cryptographic autonomy license approved by osi copyleft. The open source definition enumerates 10 key points which i have summarized as follows. The open source initiative osi has approved two licenses submitted by microsoft as open source licenses. Free software gnu, linux publicdomain copyleft download. My guess would be the gnu gpl v2 or maybe v1, and here is why. These licenses, written by larry rosen, attorney for osi, are intended to be encapsulations of the best of their class of open source licenses. In the interpretation of the fsf, opensource license criteria focus on the availability of the source code and the ability to. The microsoft public license is a free and open source software. Osi approved licenses meet an arbitrary set of criteria as set forth by the illdefined free and open source software community. Debian approved yes if the debian project has approved the license, no if not.
The osi created the open source definition in the late 1990s as a set of attributes that a software license must support to be considered open source. For evidence, in the history page you provided a link to, there is this statement. In the lists below, a parenthesized expression following a license name is its spdx short identifier, if one. Aug 08, 2007 in addition, osi board members chastised sugarcrm for presenting itself as an open source software maker despite using a license not approved by the osi the selfproclaimed defenders of the. Osiapproved open source 1,794 academic free license 38 adaptive public license 4 affero gnu public license 64 apache license v2.
In addition, osi board members chastised sugarcrm for presenting itself as an open source software maker despite using a license not approved by the osi the selfproclaimed defenders of the. Oct 30, 2017 whether or not a given piece of software is free or opensource depends on which license its distributed under and whether that license is approved by the open source initiative, the free software foundation, or both. Its primary use is for distribution of the python project software. The free software foundation fsf maintains a list of what it considers free.
Were aware that the licenses are not finegained as they could be. It is compatible with the gnu general public license. What is free software and is it the same as open source. Osi is the goto site for choosing a license, comparing licenses, reading the license text all in one place. Comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. Categories of osiapproved open source licenses last update. Osi agrees with fsf on all widely used freesoftware licenses, but differ from fsfs list, as it approves against the open source definition rather than the free software definition. Openbsd, free software foundation, larry ewing, seattle municipal.
The original bsd license was used for its namesake, the berkeley software distribution bsd, a unixlike operating system. Osiapproved licenses meet an arbitrary set of criteria as set forth by the ill. In the scope of this paper, we consider licenses approved by osi only. Mongodb withdraws sspl from open source initiative approval. Open source describes a subset of free software that is made available under a license approved by the open source initiative as conforming with the open source definition. It allows redistribution and modification of the work under any terms. It lets people do almost anything they want with your project, like making and distributing closed source versions. Theres a good deal of overlap between which licenses are approved by which organization, but there are a few exceptions. The open source movement grew out of the free software movement. The decision to approve was informed by the overwhelming though not unanimous consensus from the open source community that these licenses satisfied the 10 criteria of the open source definition, and should therefore be. Cal is a copyleft license, requiring a redistributors to make source code available, but more importantly, also contains a requirement to maintain user autonomy with respect to user data processed using the software. By default, the table sorts by the identifier column. The board of directors of the open source initiative osi approved two licenses thursday.
This is a free software license, compatible with the gpl via an explicit duallicensing clause. One approval is a technical revision of the academic free license. Why osi license approval matters meshed insights ltd. The isc license is a permissive free software license published by the internet software consortium, nowadays called internet systems consortium isc. The mit license is a permissive free software license originating at the massachusetts institute of technology mit in the late 1980s. Previous versions of the sgi free software license b were not free software licenses, despite their name. The open source initiative and the free software foundation are probably the two authorities on what is free and open source software that are better respected than the debian project. As a condition to osisofts performance of the software reliance program, licensee must designate one or more system managers as the individuals responsible for maintaining the integrity of the hardware and software of the system of which the. Unlike the gpl the python license is not a copyleft license, and allows modified versions to be distributed without source code. The purpose of the spdx license list is to enable easy and efficient identification of such licenses and exceptions in an spdx document, in source files or elsewhere. The open source initiative osi is one such organization keeping a list of opensource licenses.
Wtfpl is a gplcompatible permissive license most commonly used as a free software license. Python is now eligible to mark its products using the license with the osi certified open source software mark. This is a lax, permissive free software license, compatible with the gnu gpl, which. Of the tens of open source licenses in the osi approved list, some reign. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license compatibility. Understanding the usage, impact, and adoption of nonosi. Jt smith by tina gasperson the python software foundation psf license has been approved by the open source initiative osi. Failure to choose an osiapproved license can also invalidate a project. The spdx license list is a list of commonly found licenses and exceptions used in free and open source and other collaborative software or documentation. As of 2020, according to white sources software the mit license was used in 27% of 4 million open source packages. Bsd licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. Osi approved open source 1,794 academic free license 38 adaptive public license 4 affero gnu public license 64 apache license v2. Apr 10, 2014 categories of osiapproved open source licenses last update.
Categories of osiapproved open source licenses last. Right now the existing classifiers are shared between pypilegacy and warehouse, and our current priority is to achieve feature parity between the two so we can shut down legacy. The gnu gplv3 also lets people do almost anything they want with your project, except distributing. I think the point of the two osi licenses is to stop the proliferation of mutuallyincompatible licenses that have patent clauses. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. However, the licenses approved by the open source initiative osi and the ones approved by the free software. Some licenses are by far more popular than others and widely used. Python license approved by the open source initiative. A guide to choosing an open source license for your work or. Feb 24, 2020 the free software foundation recognizes the wtfpl as a gplcompatible free software license but does not recommend its use. The title is an abbreviation of do what the fuck you want to public license. This is a comparison of free and opensource software licenses. In general, packages without an open source license specifically one approved by osi are not allowed in obs exceptions to this policy will be done for the opensuse distribution and those packages are in the non free projects of opensuse, e.
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