Comparison of free software licences

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This is a comparison of published free software licences.

1 General comparison
2 Approvals
3 Notes
4 References
5 See also

[edit] General comparison

The following table compares various features of each license and is a general guide to the terms and conditions of each license.^[1]

License	Author	Latest version	Publication date	Link from code with a different license	Release changes under a different license
Academic Free License	Lawrence E. Rosen	3	2002	Yes	Yes
Apache License	Apache Software Foundation	2.0	2004	Yes	Yes
Apple Public Source License	Apple Computer	2.0	August 6, 2003	Yes	No
Artistic License	Larry Wall	2.0	2000	Yes	With restrictions
Berkeley Database License	Sleepycat Software, inc.	?	?	No	No
BSD license	Regents of the University of California	?	?	Yes	Yes
Boost Software License	?	1.0	August 17, 2003	Yes	Yes
Common Development and Distribution License	Sun Microsystems	1.0	December 1, 2004	Yes	Yes
Common Public License	IBM	1.0	May 2001	Yes	No
Cryptix General License	Cryptix Foundation	?	1995	Yes	Yes
Eclipse Public License	Eclipse Foundation	1.0	?	Yes	No
Educational Community License	?	1.0	?	Yes	Yes
Eiffel Forum License	NICE	2	2002	Yes	Yes
GNU General Public License	Free Software Foundation	3.0	June 2007	No	No
GNU Lesser General Public License	Free Software Foundation	3.0	June 2007	Yes	No
Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement	Hacktivismo/Cult of the Dead Cow	?	November 26, 2002	?	?
IBM Public License	IBM	1.0	August 1999	Yes	Yes
Intel Open Source License	Intel Corporation	?	?	Yes	Yes
ISC licence	Internet Systems Consortium	?	?	Yes	Yes
LaTeX Project Public License	LaTeX project	1.3c	?	Yes	Yes
MIT license / X11 license	MIT	N/A⁰	1988	Yes	Yes
Mozilla Public License	Mozilla Foundation	1.1	?	Yes	Limited
Netscape Public License	Netscape	1.1	?	?	?
Open Software License	Lawrence Rosen	3.0	?	Yes	No
OpenSSL license	OpenSSL Project	?	?	?	?
PHP License	PHP Group	3.01	?	Yes	Yes
Python Software Foundation License	Python Software Foundation	2	?	Yes	Yes
Q Public License	Trolltech	?	?	No	No
Sun Industry Standards Source License	Sun Microsystems	?	?	Yes	No
Sun Public License	Sun Microsystems	?	?	Yes	No
Sybase Open Watcom Public License	?	?	?	Yes	No
W3C Software Notice and License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
XFree86 1.1 License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
zlib/libpng license	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
Zope Public License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
License	Author	Latest version	Publication date	Link from code with a different license	Release changes under a different license

[edit] Approvals

This table lists for each licence what organizations from the free software community have approved it - be it as a "free software" or as an “open source” licence - and how those organizations categorize it. Organizations usually approve specific versions of software licences.

Licence and specific version	FSF approval^[2]	Compatible to the GPL	OSI approval^[3]	DFSG approval^[4]
Academic Free License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Apache License version 1	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Apache License version 2	Yes	Yes¹	Yes	Yes
Apple Public Source License version 1.x	No	No	Yes	No
Apple Public Source License version 2.0	Yes	No	Yes	No
Artistic License 1.0	No	No	Yes	?
Clarified Artistic License (draft 2.0)	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Artistic License 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Berkeley Database License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
original BSD license	Yes	No	Yes	No
modified BSD license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Boost Software License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Common Development and Distribution License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Common Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Creative Commons licenses (Tags: by & sa)	Yes	No	?	No^[5]
Creative Commons licenses (Tags: nc & nd)	No	No	?	No^[5]
Cryptix General License	Yes	Yes	No	?
Eclipse Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Educational Community License	?	?	Yes	?
Eiffel Forum License version 2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GNU General Public License	Yes	Yes³	Yes³	Yes
GNU Lesser General Public License	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement	No	No	No	?
IBM Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Intel Open Source License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
ISC licence	Yes^[6]	Yes	?	Yes
LaTeX Project Public License	Yes	No	No	Yes
MIT license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mozilla Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Netscape Public License	Yes	No	No	?
Open Software License	Yes	No	Yes	?
OpenSSL license	Yes	No	No	Yes
PHP License	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
POV-Ray-Licence	No	No	No	No
Python Software Foundation License 2.0.1; 2.1.1 and newer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Q Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Sun Industry Standards Source License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Sun Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?
Sybase Open Watcom Public License	?	?	Yes	?
W3C Software Notice and License	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XFree86 1.1 License	Yes	Yes¹	No	?
zlib/libpng license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zope Public License version 1.0	Yes	No	?	?
Zope Public License version 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Licence and specific version	FSF approval	Compatible to the GPL	OSI approval	DFSG approval

[edit] Notes

Note 0: Was never revised.
Note 1: Compatible to version 3 of the GPL but not compatible to version 2.
Note 2: The original version of the Artistic License is defined as non-free because it is overly vague, not because the substance of the licence. The FSF encourages projects to use the Clarified Artistic License instead.[1]
Note 3: Incompatible with the BSD license.
Note 4: Only the modified license, without the advertising clause.