The apache software foundation uses various licenses to distribute software and documentation, to accept regular contributions from individuals and corporations, and to accept larger grants of existing software products. The apache license does not place any restrictions on software that links to a plugin or library that is distributed under the apache license. The apache license says do whatever you want with this, just dont sue me but does so with many more words, which lawyers like because it adds specificity. Sell software that uses libraries licensed under apache. Open source licenses grant permission for anybody to use, modify, and share licensed software for any purpose, subject to conditions preserving the provenance and openness of the software. These licenses help us achieve our goal of providing reliable and longlived software products through collaborative open source software development. Software licensing gpl agpl bsd mit apache eula youtube. The second license the ieee will be using is the apache license, version 2. If the author of the software does want the users to receive a copy of the software, they can license it. Can i use a apache v2 licensed driver for a commercial. When referring to apache tomcat software, please use the full name of apache tomcat for at.
Comparison of free and opensource software licenses. However, you must not name your product in a way that it looks like an endorsement from apache. Sell software that uses libraries licensed under apache licence 2. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. I think youre confused by the difference between the license under which code is distributed and the trademark of the. You can freely use, modify, distribute and sell a software licensed under the apache license without worrying about the use of software. These files are designed to be used by lice, a commandline license generator for software projects. Can i use a apache v2 licensed driver for a commercial project without revealing sources of the project. A short guide to open source licenses smashing magazine.
Christmann iv chief executive officer and president. Choosing the best open source license is one of the most important decisions you can make for a new project. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain without selling the software. Can i sell a proprietary product based on commercial open. Apache corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the united states, egypt and the united kingdom north sea. Licensing and intellectual property rights of open source. Apache in some ways is similar in that it seeks to provide very similar freedom of. It allows users to use the software for any purpose, to distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions of the software under the terms of the license, without concern for royalties. The licenses are incompatible in one direction only, and it is a result of asfs licensing. Apache licensing and distribution faq apache software. Afaik if you are simply linking to an apache licence 2. It basically says that anyone can do whatever they want with the licensed material, as long as its accompanied by the license.
Bsd license is a part of a family of free software licenses that have much fewer restrictions in distribution as compared to other free software licenses. The asf and its projects release their software products under the apache license. Perfect for those who work in a noisy environment such as warehouse workers, operators, laborers, security personnel, sport shooters and any other activity or. If you are a commercial software developer that depends on selling your own software in the marketplace, however, it is important to understand the legal. The apache license is a permissive open source software license so you can release your modified version of the apache licensed product under any license of your choice. This is a comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Can i use an open source library licensed under apache.
The code contains a standard apache license header which refers to the standard apache license in the distribution. Why are the license files for the different apache software foundation projects. Most of these opinions were formed in discussions on the debianlegal mailing list in response to questions from potential package maintainers or. Describes the ability to use the software for commercial purposes. Linus torvalds says gpl v3 violates everything that gplv2 stood for duration. It also contains a patent license and retaliation clause which is designed to prevent patents including patent trolls from encumbering the software project.
Code developed elsewhere, licensed to apache under a software grant agreement, incorporated into apache projects, distributed by apache, and licensed to downstream users under the apache license. Describes the ability to modify the software and create derivatives. Furthermore, even if creative commons is not widely used for software development, some options are business friendly. Most developers default to popular permissive licenses like mit, bsd or apache. Top 10 apache license questions answered whitesource. This shows a clear commercial interest in open source projects. 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. All in all, the most acknowledged business friendly license are imho the apache license, the artistic license and the mozilla public license. Sposting this here as some of you are experts in gnu licensing, and linuxquestions seems to be more for technical help. Contribute to licenses license templates development by creating an account on github. Can gnu licensed software be used for commercial gain. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see list of free content licenses. Corporatefriendly open source licenses stack overflow.
The apache license is a permissive free software license written by the apache software foundation asf. Because of conflicts with ben lauries development cycle it then was reassembled from scratch for apache 1. The text should be enclosed in the appropriate comment syntax for the file format. If you provide commercial support and would like your company to be listed, please send us an email, and we will work with you to do so. After that you have the no competing commercial product licenses. 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 mit license is the least restrictive license out there. If its worth money to you its important to get your licensing right. Instead, you license the software from the publisher.
However, gplv3 software cannot be included in apache projects. They allow a user to build commercial software on top of open source software, or extend open source products, and declare their work as. The mpl fills a useful space in the spectrum of free and open source software licenses, sitting between the apache license, which does not require modifications to be shared, and the gnu family of licenses, which requires modifications to be shared under a much broader set of circumstances than the mpl. Describes the warranty and if the software license owner can be charged for damages. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the debian project or the fedora project. These are great choices for non commercial projects, as they reduce user resistance toward project adoption. Max easley senior vice president production operations. Is there any difference in what i have to do to legaly use the material in my commercial product. The following licenses are sorted by the number of conditions, from most gnu agplv3 to. Successes range from geronimo to tomcat to hadoop, the distributed. What is open source software, and what open source licenses is ieee intending to use. It allows users to use the software for any purpose. License information this page presents the opinion of some debianlegal contributors on how certain licenses follow the debian free software guidelines dfsg.
To apply the apache license to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets replaced with your own identifying information. Perfect for those who work in a noisy environment such as warehouse workers, operators, laborers, security personnel, sport shooters and any other activity or job that requires use of a clear tube radio earpiece. If you were wondering whether you can use apache licensed code in your commercial applications and what do you need to do in order to comply with the license heres the unofficial simple ans short answer. The terms state that users cant remove existing, patent, trademarks and attribution notices. Contributor means each individual or legal entity that creates, contributes to the creation of, or owns covered software. Midland radio is an industry leader in two way communications and noaa weather radio technology. Use of these trademarks is subject to the terms of section 6 of apache license, version 2. You must also not use any of the apache marks like the multicolored. However, you must not name your product in a way that it looks like. What is the best open source license for commercialization.
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