Open Source License
From openmichigan
Open Source License
Open Source Licenses
Open Source Licenses are legal licenses that when applied to computer source code allow other users use and build upon the work. There are two main types of Open Source Software licenses; "Share Alike" and "permissive."
Share Alike Licenses
These licenses require that any redistributed versions of derivatives of the source code also be made available under the same terms as the original. This, in essence, "protects the freedom" of the software.
- GNU Affero General Public License (aka: AGPL)
- Has the added requirement that any time a third-party user interacts with the program produced by the source (eg: in a web-app environment) the source must be made available. This is not required by the GPL.
- GNU General Public License (aka: GPL)
- GNU Lesser General Public License (aka: LGPL)
Permissive Licenses
These licenses do not require any share alike actions by the users of the source code. Thus, source code released under one of these licenses can be used wholly or modified in a proprietary program without the requirement to release those changes back to the public.
