Free software and open source licenses fall along a spectrum between permissive and restrictive.
Restrictive licenses place restrictions on software distributors. For example, the GNU GPL licenses require distributors to release the source code, with any changes, to their users.
- The Linux kernel project uses GPL version 2.
- GPL version 3 disallows digital rights management (DRM).
- Restrictive licenses like the GPL are also called copyleft.
Permissive licenses include the BSD and ISC licenses, as well as the Lesser GPL (LGPL), for example. They allow people to distribute your software within their own proprietary software, without being required to release their changes as open source.
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Consult a qualified lawyer before choosing a license.
Copyright (c) 2020, Benjamin Thornton
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