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Open Source Licenses

Prepared by:Waruna Kodituwakku

University of Colombo School of Computing

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Roadmap Software Licenses

Copyleft Vs. Permissive

GNU GPL

GPL Versions

GNU LGPL

Ms-PL

Open Source Business Models

Comparison of GPL, LGPL & Ms-PL

Creative Commons License

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Open Source Licenses

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Software Licenses

What is a Software License?Simply it is the authorization to use software. This Also can be defined as a contract whereby the software owner conveys certain intellectual property rights, assigns certain obligations, assumes certain obligations, and imposes certain risks on a licensee.

What is an Open-Source License?An open source license is a copyright license for computer software that allows the source code to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users to review and modify the source code for their own customization, curiosity or troubleshooting needs.

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Copyleft Vs. Permissive

Copyleft Licenses

Copyleft is the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work. any works derived from a work with a copyleft license must themselves be copyleft when distribute.

E.g. • GNU General Pulblic Licesnse (GPL)

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Copy-Left Vs. Permissive Contd.

Permissive Licenses

A "permissive" license is basically a non-copyleft license. Permissive licenses typically allow licensees to use, distribute and modify the licensed material, for almost any purpose, including distributing the licensed material as part of a FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open-Source Software) licensed project, or a proprietary-licensed project.

E.g. • BSD License• MIT License• PHP License

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GNU General Public License (GPL)• The GPL was created by Richard Stallman in order to protect GNU software

from being made proprietary. GPL is under the copyright ownership of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

• The GPL is a copyleft license, which means that derived works can only be distributed under the same license terms.

• GPL ensures every user receives the essential freedoms that define "free" software, which is free of restrictions. Basically, it allows users to legally copy, distribute and modify software.

• That means with GPL, we can,• Copy the software.• Distribute the software however we want.• Charge a fee to distribute the software.• Make whatever modifications to the software we want.

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GPL Versions Version 1

• Released on 25 February 1989. Prevented the 2 main ways that software distributors restricted the freedoms that define free software.

• The first problem - Distributors may publish binary files only executable, but not readable or modifiable by humans.

• To prevent this, GPLv1 said that any vendor distributing binaries must also make the human-readable source code available under the same licensing terms

• The second problem - Distributors might add additional restrictions, either by adding restrictions to the license, or by combining the software with other software which had other restrictions on its distribution.

• To prevent this, GPLv1 said that modified versions, as a whole, had to be distributed under the terms in GPLv1.

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GPL Versions Contd.

Version 2

• Released in June 1991.

• Major Change: "Liberty or Death".

• This section says that if somebody has restrictions imposed that prevent him or her from distributing GPL-covered software in a way that respects other users' freedom, he or she cannot distribute it at all. • E.g. if a legal ruling states that he or she can only distribute the

software in binary form.

• The hope is that this will make it less tempting for companies to use patent threats to require a fee from the free software developers.

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GPL Versions Contd.

Version 3

• Released on June 29, 2007.

• GPLv3 has terms that are similar to GPLv2, but expands the reach of the GPL even further into such areas as patent and digital rights management.

• GPLv3 contains provisions that can affect software development in four key ways,

• Reciprocity• Digital Rights Management • Patents• License compatibility

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GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

• The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

• The LGPL allows developers and companies to use and integrate LGPL software into their own (even proprietary) software without being required (by the terms of a strong copyleft) to release the source code of their own software-parts.

• The word "Lesser" in the title of the license is used, to show that LGPL cannot guarantee end-users complete freedom in the use of software, because only the LGPL-parts (but not any proprietary software-parts) guarantee end-users the access to source code and therefore the freedom of modification.

• The LGPL is primarily used for software libraries, although it is also used by some stand-alone applications.

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Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL)• Microsoft has introduced “Shared Source” programs which allow

individuals and organizations to access Microsoft's source code for reference, for review and auditing from a security perspective, and for development.

• As part of the this program, Microsoft released 5 licenses for general use. Two of them, Microsoft Public License and Microsoft Reciprocal License, have been approved by the Open Source Initiative as open source licenses and are regarded by the Free Software Foundation as free software licenses

• Ms-PL is the least restrictive of the Microsoft licenses and allows for distribution of compiled code for either commercial or non-commercial purposes under any license that complies with the Ms-PL. Redistribution of the source code itself is permitted only under the Ms-PL.

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Comparison of GPL, LGPL & Ms-PLGPL LGPL Ms-PL

• Must distribute license with source

• Cannot use contributors name to endorse

• There has to be notification for changed files

• Any change must distributed in source form

• Lets you explicitly charge for providing warranty or guarantee or transfer of code

• All derivative work must be under the same license

• Must show license when run from the command line

• Non derivative works can have different license

• May include countries where there is a contradiction with patent in that country

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Open Source Business Models

We can identify five main Business Models that can be used with Open Source Software.

Services Model

Dual Licensing Model

Proprietary Plug-In/Applicat

ion Model

Freemium Model

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Open Source Business Models Contd.

• Services ModelIn this model, an organization sells maintenance, support, documentation, and training services, as well as certification of the software version, in conjunction with the open source software. (e.g. Redhat)

• Dual Licensing ModelSelling the software under a commercial license and releasing the code under an open source license simultaneously.(e.g. MySQL)

• Proprietary Plug-in/Application ModelIn this model, an organization sells premium commercial add-ons, modules, and applications in conjunction with the open source software and then packages both the underlying code and the apps together. (e.g. Jaspersoft)

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Open Source Business Models Contd.• Freemium Model

In this model, a corporation releases software under an open source license and sells premium features on top. Unlike in plug-in/app model, here a company need not create an entirely separate module or plug-in. The owners of the code can just chose not to release certain features.(e.g. VMware Hyperic)

• Software as a Service (SaaS) Model

In this model, the open source project serves as a base for a SaaS offering. In a SaaS model, customers pay for the hosting, streaming, and delivery of the software on a managed cloud, regardless of the license of underlying software .(e.g. Acquia CMS Support)

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GNU GPL & Business Models

• GNU General Public License has been used in some business models as the license. Here are some examples.

• Dual Licensing Model• MySQL (

http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/index.html)

• Services Model• Redhat (http://www.redhat.com/licenses/)

• Software as a Service Model• Acquia (

http://www.acquia.com/about-us/legal/licensing-and-terms-of-service)

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GNU LGPL & Business Models

• GNU Lesser General Public License is used with Dual Licensing Model in many software such as,

• XMind (http://www.xmind.net/license/)• BeanShell (http://www.beanshell.org/license.html)

• There are some software directly using LGPL such as,

• FFmpeg (http://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)• Teem (http://teem.sourceforge.net/lgpl.html)

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Ms-PL & Business Models

• Dual License ModelToji is a software project that uses both Apache License 2.0 and Ms-PL in a Dual License. (https://raw.github.com/idavis/Toji/master/LICENSE.txt)

• There are some software which using Microsoft Public License such as,• OpenSubdiv

(http://graphics.pixar.com/opensubdiv/license.html)

• OxiteOpen source, web standards compliant, blog engine (http://oxite.codeplex.com/license)

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Comparison of Open Source Licenses

License Release changes under a different license

Link with code using a different license

GPL Compatible

Apache License2.0

Yes Yes Yes

GNU GPL No No Yes

GNU LGL No Yes Yes

Prior BSD Licenses Yes Yes No

New BSD License Yes Yes Yes

MIT License Yes Yes Yes

Ms-PL No No No

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Creative Commons License

• Creative Commons license (CC) is one of several public copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works.

• A Creative Commons license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and even build upon a work that they have created.

• CC provides an author ,• Flexibility : They might choose to allow only non-commercial

uses of their own work.• Protection: People who use or redistribute an author's work

don’t have to worry about copyright infringement, as long as they abide by the conditions the author has specified.

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Three Layers of a CC License

.• Machine readable metadata

A summary of the key freedoms and obligations written into a format that software systems, search engines, and other kinds of technology can understand.

• Common Deed (A human readable version)

This shows the familiar Creative Commons icons. The Commons Deed is a handy reference for licensors and licensees, summarizing and expressing some of the most important terms and conditions.

• Legal Code

The type of language that lawyers like to use in contracts and legal docs. This protects the content owner from others violating the terms of their Creative Commons license.

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Attribution CC BY

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered.

Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial,

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive license, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change or use them commercially.

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References1. Open Source Initiative. 2013. Open Source Licenses by Category. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://opensource.org/licenses/category. [Accessed 08 March 2013].

2. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Comparison of free and open-source software licenses. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licenses. [Accessed 09 March 2013].

3. Lizenz Center, license list. 2013. Lizenz Center, license list. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ifross.org/ifross_html/lizenzcenter-en.html. [Accessed 09 March 2013].

4. Open Technology. 2013. Open Source Business Models | Open Technology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://opentec.org/open-source-business-models/. [Accessed 10 March 2013].

5. Open Source Insider. 2013. How to create a successful open source business model - Open Source Insider. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/open-source-insider/2013/01/how-to-create-a-successful-open-source-business-model.html. [Accessed 10 March 2013].

6. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Apache - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache. [Accessed 12 March 2013].

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References Contd.7. Open Source Initiative. 2013. The BSD 3-Clause License | Open Source Initiative. [ONLINE]

Available at: http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause. [Accessed 15 March 2013].

8. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. GNU General Public License - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License. [Accessed 15 March 2013].

9. Open Source Initiative. 2013. The MIT License (MIT) | Open Source Initiative. [ONLINE] Available at: http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT. [Accessed 14 March 2013].

10. Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) | Open Source Initiative. 2013. Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) | Open Source Initiative. [ONLINE] Available at: http://opensource.org/licenses/MS-PL. [Accessed 16 March 2013].

11. Creative Commons. 2013. About The Licenses - Creative Commons. [ONLINE] Available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/. [Accessed 14 March 2013].

12. Creative Commons. 2013. Choose a License. [ONLINE] Available at: http://creativecommons.org/choose/. [Accessed 14 March 2013]

13. GNU Lesser General Public License - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License. [Accessed 15 March 2013].

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References Contd.14. Free Software Foundation. 2013. FSF Licensing & Compliance Team — Free Software

Foundation — working together for free software. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fsf.org/licensing/. [Accessed 12 March 2013].

15. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Software license - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license. [Accessed 15 March 2013].

16. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Copyleft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft. [Accessed 15 March 2013].

17. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Permissive free software licence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_free_software_licence. [Accessed 16 March 2013].

18. Software Licenses. 2013. Compatible Licenses. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.softwarelicenses.org/p1_open_source_glossary_compatible_licenses.php. [Accessed 15 March 2013].