Open source license




<legal> Any document that attempts to specify open source usage and distribution of software.

These licenses are usually drafted by experts and are likely to be more legally sound than one a programmer could write.

However, loopholes do 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 of the Free Software Foundation.

Used for GNU software and much of Linux.

4. Artistic License (http://www.my-opensource.org/Artistic.txt) Less restrictive than the GPL, permitted by Perl in addition to the GPL.

5. Mozilla Public Licenses (http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/). (MPL, MozPL) and Netscape Public License (NPL).

["Open Sources", pub. O'Reilly, full text (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/perens.html)].



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