Apache openoffice is distributed under a license the apache 2 license that by design permits anyone to reuse the code and create derivative products almost under any license, ranging from copyleft to proprietary. See how to choose a license for your own work for general recommendations about choosing a license for your work the two major categories of free software license are copyleft and non copyleft. To be approved by the open source initiative also known as the osi, a license must go through the open. I would like to publish code for an application under an open source license like bsd, mit, or apache 2 which allows for changes and derivative works to be contributed back to the open source project or kept fully proprietary if the developer wishes, but where the code or derivative works can never be relicensed under a gpl copyleft license. A term that youve heard, but may not be familiar with, is. Someone is violating a copyleft license, for example by refusing to give. Gpl version 3 this chapter discusses the text of gplv3. This is a lax, permissive noncopyleft free software license, compatible with the gnu. A commercial license allows you to tightly integrate x265 into your application, optimizing performance and assuring your customers of a. Is there a generally accepted anticopyleft clause or license. Why should the new code license be permissive instead of copyleft. What is foss licensesapache, bsd, gpl, lgpl explained techcode.
If you have a dependency that doesnt have a license, ask its maintainers to add a license. The software freedom law center provides practical advice for developers about including permissively licensed source. Examples of noncopyleft permissive freesoftware licenses include the x11 license, apache license and the bsd licenses. For example, the bsd license is a non copyleft open source license. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. This license is a kind of copyleft, which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. When an open source license is not copyleft, that means software released under that license can be used as part of programs distributed under other licenses, including proprietary nonopensource licenses. Vertrigo is a freeware compilation of free software under gpl, apache license. Weve compiled a list of your top 10 questions about the gpl license in the last post. The apache license does not place any restrictions on software that links to a plugin or library that is distributed under the apache license. Apple public source license, and the apache license. Copyleftthe economics of linux and other open source software.
Salesforce is the worlds mostused crm, and so much more. The apache license is a permissive free software license written by the apache software. Freesoftware licenses that use weak copyleft include the gnu lesser general public license and the mozilla public license. Frequently answered questions open source initiative. Former pmc chair andrea pescetti volunteered as release manager in july 2015. Free software gnu, linux publicdomain copyleft download. That said, the copyleft gplv3 license is still the third most popular open source license out there, and overall, copyleft licenses account for nearly 40% of. There are variations, of coursethe lgpl, for example, is a weak copyleft.
Ultimately, the fsf gave priority to making gplv3 a better copyleft license in the spirit of past gpls. Why should the new code license be permissive instead of. It is however acceptable for a build process to automatically download such. As much as open source licensing is about the grant of ip rights, its also grounded in politics, philosophy and public policy. With salesforce, teams get access to tools that allow them to grow their accounts, find new customers, and close dealsfaster and from anywhere. Apache openoffice is living in interesting times, and this is a good moment to reflect on future scenarios. Vertrigoserv is a complete free wamp server allowing php development for windows. An open source license protects contributors and users.
Top 10 apache license questions answered whitesource. When referring to apache tomcat software, please use the full name of apache tomcat for at least the first reference on any web page, help file. If code gets licensed under a permissive license, authors can decide to license it under a copyleft license, but thats pointless, as their code can be used in proprietary software anyhow. In other words, the code is free to use, to share and modify but any resultant works must be distributed under the same license. Copyleft garantiert, dass jeder nutzer freiheit hat. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project free. Is there a generally accepted anticopyleft clause or. Furthermore, it considers apache license versions before 2. The mpl fills a useful space in the spectrum of free and open source software licenses, sitting between the apache license. It identifies the acceptable licenses for inclusion of thirdparty open source. A copyleft license is a license that grants the permission to freely use, modify, and redistribute the covered intellectual propertybut only if the original license. The free software foundation considers all versions of the apache license to be incompatible with the previous gpl versions 1 and 2. A commercial license allows you to distribute proprietary applications without being subject to the copyleft terms and other terms of the gpl v2.
Apache openoffices default file format is the opendocument format odf, an isoiec standard. Hibernate hibernate is an objectrelational mapper tool. The apache license version 2 is available as a free document from simplydocs. The mpls filelevel copyleft is designed to encourage contributors to share modifications they make to your code, while still allowing them to. It is a permissive non copyleft license which permits sublicensing, and reusing it with proprietary applications. There are thousands of free applications and many operating systems available on the internet. Oct 24, 2019 while the copyleft license used to be the most common open source license in use, over the past few years weve seen a decline in copyleft license use and a rise in permissive licenses. To change the license for code is one thing, but to switch from copyleft to permissive is a totally different story. In some countries, users that download code with no license may infringe. If the license you want to apply has such instructions, just follow them.
Apache 2 software can therefore be included in gplv3 projects, because the gplv3 license accepts our software into gplv3 works. The kerberos, x11, and apache software licenses are substantially similar in intent and implementation. Apr, 2015 apache openoffice is distributed under a license the apache 2 license that by design permits anyone to reuse the code and create derivative products almost under any license, ranging from copyleft to proprietary. However, while doing so, youre required to follow the terms of the apache license. What is foss licensesapache, bsd, gpl, lgpl explained. Licenses like bsd, the mit, and the apache license are all deemed to be permissive.
I would like to publish code for an application under an open source license like bsd, mit, or apache 2 which allows for changes and derivative works to be contributed back to the open source project or kept fully proprietary if the developer wishes, but where the code or derivative works can never be relicensed under a gplcopyleft license. Use the license preferred by the community youre contributing to or depending on. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the bsd licenses and the mit license are widely used examples. Instead, you license the software from the publisher. It lets people do almost anything they want with your project, like making and distributing.
How to apply the apache license to your work in the apache2. Gnu general public license v3 gpl3 366312 code license managed by kevin. If gpl is so powerful, why dont all free software projects use it. Which of the following best describes your situation. Copyleft licenses such as the gnu gpl insist that modified versions of the program must be free software as well. The fsf stated at the start of the gplv3 process that they would have liked to oblige those who have asked for a simpler and shorter gpl. If you create a product that uses apache tomcat software or provides additional functionality to that software then. This software licence differs from copyleft licences such as the gnu licences in that modified versions of software do not need to be licensed under the apache licence. In the gnu project, the specific distribution terms that we use for most software are contained in the gnu general public license. While the copyleft license used to be the most common open source license in use, over the past few years weve seen a decline in copyleft license use and a rise in permissive licenses. For example, if the mozilla project switches to mpl 2, firefox may quickly contain apache code because the permissive apache license will be compatible with firefoxs overall mpl license, but your apache webserver wont have any mozillalicensed code any time soon because mpl will still be more restrictive than the apache projects overall. Apache projects may not distribute category x licensed components, be it in source or binary form. This document provides guidance to contributors of apache nifi to help properly account for licensing, notice, and legal requirements.
Copyleft stellt auch fur andere programmierer einen anreiz dar, um zu freie software beizutragen. Copyleft is a general concept, and you cant use a general concept directly. Such licenses are usually called either non copyleft or permissive. Software unter solchen lizenzen kann als freie oder open source software. It turns out that many foss developers, many of whom would claim as much commitment to the principles of free software as their gpl counterparts, prefer a permissive license such as the apache, mit, or bsd license to the copyleft protections offered by the gpl.
The free and open source productivity suite keepass. The following osiapproved licenses are popular, widely used, or have strong communities. As with the previous question on platforms, the component can be relied on if the components license terms do. Heres the second post in our open source software license faq series. Rewind to 2012 and copyleft licenses could be found with 59 per cent of projects while permissive licenses accompanied just 41 per cent. It can also read and write a wide variety of other file formats, with particular attention to those from microsoft office although unlike libreoffice, it cannot save microsofts post2007 office open xml formats, only import them. Free software license provider mit license, apache license 2019 apache license the apache software foundation asf is a nonprofit corporation to support apache software projects. Instead, the apache project published a workaround for users, leaving the vulnerability in the download.
Most of the components use very permissive licenses like mit or apache 2. Copyleft licenses are licenses that require redistributed copies and derivative works to be under the same license. Businesses and savvy developers wont touch a project without this protection. The lgpl on the other hand has the requirement that either the lgpl library links dynamically and can be replaced by a user or the entire work must be released under a gplcompatible opensource license. Examples of non copyleft permissive freesoftware licenses include the x11 license, apache license and the bsd licenses. The licenses used range from agpl very copyleft to x11 aka mit, very free. However, the functions and quality of some programs like linux and apache have reached and in some respects surpassed those of traditional protected commercial programs. The free software foundation considers the apache license, version 2.
Historically, copyleft licensing was created for ideological purposes by richard stallman and the free software foundation gnu project, 2000b. This project goal is maximize supply chain management effective. John discusses the differences between permissiveness and copyleft as they apply to open source licensing. Compliance costs and the apache license the apache openoffice compliance advantages as you probably already know, you dont own software in the same way you own a chair or a desk. The developer pool for the apache project was seeded by ibm employees.
Apr 18, 20 salesforce helps sales teams accelerate their performance and achieve their goals. Here you will find an archive of all the copyleft and open source licenses that have been published in the past. Asf 3rd party license policy apache software foundation. Open source licenses grant permission for anybody to use, modify, and share. The fsf specifically designed this clause to achieve gplv3 compatibility for the apache software license. We have designed this license in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation. Bsd styled licenses are the original bsd license and its derivates. The gpl is a copyleft license, which means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. Some modules we make are using more permissive licenses, though, for example, the blender cycles rendering engine is available as apache 2. Making the source available does not mean users can download it automatically.
An uninstaller allows you to remove vertrigo from hard disc. Obsession for concision should never trump software freedom. The gnu free documentation license fdl is a form of copyleft intended for use on a manual, textbook or other document to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifications, either commercially or noncommercially. It complements the gnu general public license, which is a copyleft license designed for free software. Its a popular and widely deployed license backed by a. Users can easily download and install those applications via a package manager that comes included with most linux distributions. The apache software foundation has been really successful in creating and nurturing open source communities leveraging code. Initially this was meant for copyleft tarballs only but it is also pretty handy to mirror other file dependencies. Asfs objective is to provide legal protection to volunteers working on the apache project and to protect the apache brand name from being used by other organization.
Copyleft versus noncopyleft licenses in free open source. If your project is currently using a dual licensing scheme involving the eclipse public license v1. Every open source license welcome to copyleftlicense. All software produced by the apache software foundation or any of its projects or subjects is licensed according to the terms of the documents listed below. The old project spawned numerous derivative products and we are proud to see how the openoffice ecosystem, taken as a. The guidance in this document is meant to compliment apache software foundation guides and policies. Copyleft is a type of license that attempts to ensure that the public retains the freedom to use, modify, extend and redistribute a creative work and all derivative works i. Gnu general public license gpl gnu affero public license agpl non. As with the previous question on platforms, the component can be relied on if the components license terms do not affect the apache products licensing. Free software licenses can be divided into two broad categories.
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