Comparison of free and open-source software licenses

This is a comparison of published free software licenses and open source licenses. 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.

Free software / open-source licenses

The terms "free software licenses" and "open-source licenses" are usually interchangeable. While there is no one universally agreed-upon definition of free software, various groups that maintain approved lists of licenses. The Open Source Initiative is one such organization keeping a list of "open source" licenses.[1] The Free Software Foundation maintains a list of what it considers free.[2]

Free Software - provides freedoms to use, study, share (copy), and modify the software. Open-source license criteria focuses on the availability of the source code and the possibility to use it, while free software licenses focuses on the aspect that code stays "free", the preventation that code becomes proprietary.[3][4]

General comparison

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

License Author Latest version Publication date Linking Distribution Modification Patent grant Private use Sublicensing No trademark
Academic Free License Lawrence E. Rosen 3 2002 Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
Apache LicenseApache Software Foundation2.02004Permissive[5]Permissive[5]Permissive[5]Yes[5]Yes[5]Permissive[5]No[5]
Apple Public Source LicenseApple Computer2.0August 6, 2003Permissive ? Limited ? ? ? ?
Artistic License Larry Wall 2.0 2000 With restrictions ? With restrictions ? ? ? ?
Beerware Poul-Henning Kamp 42 1987 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Berkeley Database License Oracle Corporation ? February 7, 2008 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
BSD LicenseRegents of the University of California3.0?Permissive[6]Permissive[6]Permissive[6]manually[6]Yes[6]Permissive[6]Yes[6]
Boost Software License? 1.0 August 17, 2003 Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
CeCILL CEA / CNRS / INRIA 2.0 May 21, 2005 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Common Development and Distribution License Sun Microsystems 1.0 December 1, 2004 Permissive ? Limited ? ? ? ?
Code Project Open License The Code Project 1.0 2007 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Common Public License IBM 1.0 May 2001 Copylefted ? Copylefted ? ? ? ?
Cryptix General License Cryptix Foundation ? 1995 Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes
Eclipse Public LicenseEclipse Foundation1.0 February 2004 Limited[7]Limited[7]Limited[7]Yes[7]Yes[7]Limited[7]Yes[7]
Educational Community License?1.0?Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
Eiffel Forum LicenseNICE22002? ? ? ? ? ? ?
EUPL European Commission 1.1 January 2009 Limited ? With an explicit compatibility list ? ? ? ?
GNU Affero General Public LicenseFree Software Foundation3.02007GNU GPLv3 only[8]Copylefted[9]Copylefted[9]Copylefted[10]No[10]Copylefted[9]Yes[10]
GNU General Public LicenseFree Software Foundation3.0June 2007GPLv3 compatible only[11][12] Copylefted[9]Copylefted[9]Copylefted[13]Yes[13]Copylefted[9]Yes[13]
GNU Lesser General Public LicenseFree Software Foundation3.0June 2007With restrictions[14]Copylefted[9]Copylefted[9]Copylefted[15]YesCopylefted[9]Yes[15]
IBM Public LicenseIBM1.0August 1999Copylefted ? Copylefted ? ? ? ?
Intel Open Source LicenseIntel Corporation? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ISC licenseInternet Systems Consortium? June 2003 Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
LaTeX Project Public LicenseLaTeX project1.3c? Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
MIT license / X11 license MIT N/A 1988 Permissive[16]Permissive[16]Permissive[16]No[16]Yes[16]Permissive[16]Yes[16]
Mozilla Public LicenseMozilla Foundation2.0 January 3, 2012 Permissive[17]Copylefted[17]Copylefted[17]Yes[17]Yes[17]Copylefted[17]Yes[17]
Netscape Public LicenseNetscape1.1? Limited ? Limited ? ? ? ?
Open Software License Lawrence Rosen 3.0 2005 Permissive ? Copylefted ? ? ? ?
OpenSSL licenseOpenSSL Project? ? Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
PHP LicensePHP Group3.01? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Python Software Foundation LicensePython Software Foundation2? Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
Q Public LicenseTrolltech? ? Limited ? Limited ? ? ? ?
Reciprocal Public License Scott Shattuck 1.5 2007 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sun Industry Standards Source LicenseSun Microsystems? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sun Public LicenseSun Microsystems? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sybase Open Watcom Public License Open Watcom N/A 2003-01-28 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
W3C Software Notice and License W3C 20021231 December 31, 2002 Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License (WTFPL) Sam Hocevar 2 December 2004 Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
XCore Open Source License XMOS ? February 2011 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
XFree86 1.1 License The XFree86 Project, Inc ? ? Permissive ? Permissive ? ? ? ?
zlib/libpng license Jean-Loup Gailly and Mark Adler ? ? Permissive ? Limited ? ? ? ?
Zope Public LicenseZope Foundation2.1? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Approvals

This table lists for each license what organizations from the free software community have approved it – be it as a "free software" or as an "open source" license – and how those organizations categorize it. Organizations usually approve specific versions of software licenses. FSF approval means that the Free Software Foundation (FSF) considers the license free software as they don't approve of proprietary software, however they also recommend that licenses be at least "Compatible with GPL" and preferably copyleft (usually).

License and version FSF approval
[18]		 GPL compatibility
[19][20][21][22][23]		 OSI approval
[24]		 Copyfree approval
[25][26]		 Debian approval
[27][28]		 Fedora approval
[29]
Academic Free LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
Apache License 1.xYesNoYesNoYesYes
Apache License 2.0YesYes[30]YesNoYesYes
Apple Public Source License 1.xNo[31]NoYesNoNoNo
Apple Public Source License 2.0YesNoYesNoNoYes
Artistic License 1.0No[note 1]NoYesNoYesNo
Artistic License 2.0YesYesYesNoYesYes
Beerware 42 No No No Yes No Yes[32]
Berkeley Database LicenseYesYesYesNoYesYes
Original BSD licenseYesNoNo[33]NoYesYes
Modified BSD licenseYesYesYesYesYesYes
Boost Software LicenseYesYesYesYesYesYes
CeCILLYesYesYesNoYesYes
Common Development and Distribution LicenseYesNoYesNoYesYes
Common Public LicenseYesNoYesNoYesYes
Cryptix General LicenseYesYesNoYesYesYes
Eclipse Public LicenseYesNoYesNoYesYes
Educational Community License Yes[34] YesNoNoYes
Eiffel Forum License 2YesYesYesNoYesYes
GNU Affero General Public LicenseYesYes[8][35]YesNoYesYes
GNU General Public License v2YesYes[note 2][36]YesNoYesYes
GNU General Public License v3YesYes[note 3][36]YesNoYesYes
GNU Lesser General Public LicenseYesYesYesNoYesYes
IBM Public LicenseYesNoYesNo[26]YesYes
Intel Open Source LicenseYesYesYesNoNoNo
ISC licenseYes[37]YesYesYesYesYes
LaTeX Project Public LicenseYesNoYesNo[26]YesYes
Microsoft Public LicenseYesNoYesYesNoYes
Microsoft Reciprocal LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
MIT license / X11 licenseYesYesYesYesYesYes
Mozilla Public License 1.1YesNoYesNoYesYes
Mozilla Public License 2.0YesYes[note 4][38]YesNoYesYes
Netscape Public LicenseYesNoNoNoNoYes
Open Software LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
OpenSSL licenseYesNoNoNoYesYes
PHP LicenseYesNoYesNoYesPartial
Python Software Foundation License 2.0.1; 2.1.1 and newerYesYesYesNoYesYes
Q Public LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
Reciprocal Public License 1.5NoNoYesNoNoNo
Sun Industry Standards Source LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
Sun Public LicenseYesNoYesNoNoYes
Sybase Open Watcom Public LicenseNoNoYesNoNoNo
W3C Software Notice and LicenseYesYesYesNoYesYes
Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License (WTFPL)Yes[note 5]YesNo[39]YesYesYes
XFree86 1.1 LicenseYesYes[40]NoNoNoNo
zlib/libpng licenseYesYesYesNoYesYes
Zope Public License 1.0YesNoNoNoNoYes
Zope Public License 2.0YesYesYesNoNoYes
  1. ↑ The original version of the Artistic License is defined as non-free because it is overly vague, not because of the substance of the license. The FSF encourages projects to use the Clarified Artistic License instead.
  2. ↑ If without "or later" clause not with GPLv3.
  3. ↑ But not with GPLv2 without "or later" clause.
  4. ↑ MPL 2.0 is GPL compatible unless marked "Incompatible with Secondary Licenses".
  5. ↑ Listed as WTFPL.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Open source licenses - Licenses by Name on opensource.org
  2. ↑ "Various Licenses and Comments about Them". Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Relationship between the Free Software movement and Open Source movement", Free Software Foundation, Inc
  4. ↑ Avoiding Ruinous Compromises by FSF
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 "the section 4 of the apache license version 2".
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 "BSD license".
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 "the eclipse public license version 1".
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 : section 13 of the GNU AGPLv3 license
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 : GNU licenses copyleft
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "the GNU Affero General Public License version 3".
  11. ↑ : If library is under GPLv3
  12. ↑ : Linking with the GNU GPLv3
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "the GNU General Public License version 3".
  14. ↑ : the section 4 of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3".
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 "MIT License".
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 "MPL version 2".
  18. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "Various Licenses and Comments about Them". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  19. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "To be GPL-Compatible has to be compatible with Licenses GNU GPLv3 and GNU GPLv2 – Free Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  20. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-Compatible Free Software Licenses – Free Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  21. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-Incompatible Free Software Licenses – Free Software Foundation". Software Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  22. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-compatible Definition by FSF – Free Software Foundation". GPL-compatible Definition. Free Software Foundation.
  23. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "GPL-compatible Definition previous version by FSF – Free Software Foundation". GPL-compatible Definition. Free Software Foundation.
  24. ↑ Open Source Initiative. "The Approved Licenses". License Information. Open Source Initiative.
  25. ↑ Copyfree Initiative. "Copyfree Licenses". Copyfree Initiative.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 "Rejected Licenses". CopyFree Initiative. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  27. ↑ Debian. "Debian – License information". Licenses. Debian.
  28. ↑ "The DFSG and Software Licenses". Debian wiki.
  29. ↑ Fedora. "Licensing – FedoraProject". Licenses. Fedora Project.
  30. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "Apache License, Version 2.0". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  31. ↑ "Apple Public Source License (APSL), version 1.x". Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  32. ↑ "Licensing/Beerware". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  33. ↑ "3-clause BSD License at OSI".
  34. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "Educational Community License 2.0". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  35. ↑ : "We use only licenses that are compatible with the GNU GPL for GNU software."
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU Licenses – Is GPLv3 compatible with GPLv2?". gnu.org. Retrieved 3 June 2014. No. Some of the requirements in GPLv3, such as the requirement to provide Installation Information, do not exist in GPLv2. As a result, the licenses are not compatible: if you tried to combine code released under both these licenses, you would violate section 6 of GPLv2. However, if code is released under GPL "version 2 or later," that is compatible with GPLv3 because GPLv3 is one of the options it permits.
  37. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "A Quick Guide to GPLv3". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.
  38. ↑ Mozilla Foundation. "MPL 2.0 FAQ". Licenses. Mozilla Foundation.
  39. ↑ "OSI Board Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, March 4, 2009".
  40. ↑ Free Software Foundation. "XFree86 1.1 License". Licenses. Free Software Foundation.