Open-source license is currently a Computing and engineering good article nominee. Nominated by Rjjiii (talk) at 03:40, 23 January 2024 (UTC) An editor has indicated a willingness to review the article in accordance with the good article criteria. Further reviews are welcome from any editor who has not contributed significantly to this article (or nominated it), and can be added to the review page, but the decision whether or not to list the article as a good article should be left to the first reviewer. Short description: Software license allowing source code to be used, modified, and shared

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While software in the public domain may conform with the principles put forth by the open source community (assuming the source is available), this article aims to deal with licenses considered to be open source (and specifically with those approved by the Open Source Intitiative). Since public domain software is under no license, I removed it from the list. -- Stephen Gilbert

No. Open source licenses do not have to be approved by the OSI to be open source or legitimate. There were many open-source licenses before the OSI, and many in use now that are not OSI approved. Please don't conflate the two. The article is correct in its statement that the OSI-approved licenses are just one subset of those available. CC0, for example, qualifies as open source and is GPL-compatible, but does not have official OSI-approval (as of right now. Not sure if approval has been sought.) --1typesetter 08:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Public domain software is explicitly approved as "open source" by the OSI, and it is listed along with other licenses in their own literature, so I've put it back. --LDC

They seem to be awfully quite about PD software over at OSI. I was halfway through a response saying how I couldn't find any references to PD software on their webpage, when I came across the change history of the Open Source Definition: 1.2 – added public-domain to clause 10., and 1.4 – Now explicit about source code requirement for PD software. It isn't, however, listed on their "approved licenses" page, which threw me off. And so, your revision stands. I'll just add that the source code must be available. -- Stephen Gilbert

I think we should create a seperate page for the list because in my point of view, it seems that the list is the biggest part of the article and it seems that attention has been made to that and not the rest of the article, i suggest it becomes a list --Saint-Paddy 22:48, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The article currently states "Some open source licenses only permit modification of the source code for personal use or only permit non-commercial redistribution." This is not true: no open source license has such restrictions (if it does, it's not open source). Also, it is not true that "most" free software licenses require sharing of source code (only a few of them do). In fact, the set of free software licenses is almost exactly the same as the set of open source licenses; there was one edge case once, in a rarely-used license if I remember correctly, where it could maybe be said to be one but not the other. In normal practice, though, any license that is a free software license is also an open source license, and vice versa. No citations are given for the aforementioned and other incorrect assertions in the article; the external references do not support them. IMHO it just needs a complete rewrite. I'm sorry I don't have time to do it, but I wanted to at least drop a note here that this article needs work. --Karl Fogel 20:01, 1 September 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]

When I tried the link to the comparison of open source licenses, it did not work. May be a transient error, but if it persists an alternate link should be found, or it should be removed --12.28.106.123 13:58, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I've removed two references to Solaris, one because it was obsolete and the other because it wasn't clear why it was there at all.

The first was under "Non-OSI source licenses". Sun briefly had a non-OSI release of some Solaris 8 source but that's long gone. The Solaris end-user license does not confer access to source.

The second was

Some software licenses define an open standard basis and may or may not be similar to open source, like some versions of Solaris and PGP.

If this means "source code has been released that itself defines an open standard" that doesn't fit Solaris, since Solaris is based on open standards, not the other way around. Using it as an example here also opens a can of worms as to whether Solaris itself is open source, or just shares a code base with the open-source OpenSolaris project; I don't think it's worth taking this article down that path when better examples must be available. So, I changed the line to only refer to PGP. --NapoliRoma 00:41, 13 August 2006 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I just found an article which contains the content of list of FSF approved software licences and this article, and the data is even formatted nicely. Seems like a good idea to merge these two articles into comparison of free software licences. Yes, no? --Gronky 12:42, 15 November 2007 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Yes Adleecya Graham (talk) 05:58, 11 January 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I often wonder, and I guess many other do to, why the creative commons licenses aren't open source. I recognise that this is a page about OSI stuff, but it would be useful to have a section detailing why other major free licenses aren't approved by OSI, especially creative commons licenses. --210.14.103.34 (talk) 11:39, 6 December 2007 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I don't know why there hasn't been an OSI approval - maybe it has simply never been suggested , but some CC licenses are indeed open source - fsf thinks so; for instance - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses - lists CC-BY and CC-BY-SA as free. Their definition of free is virtually identical to OSI criteria, so I doubt OSI would have a differing conclusion Aryah (talk) 01:30, 3 September 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The CC didn't want to compete with the OSI and so they discouraged the use of CC licenses for source code. With the recent advent of CC0 for source code that has perhaps begun to change. --1typesetter 08:26, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

As far as I know, no much-used OS License, and only one or two OS derived licenses for government agencies or corporations, takes explicit and easily understood notice of the following situation: a U.S. based software originator transfers OS material, under an OS License, to a party in a 2nd country (neither the U.S. nor a U.S. Export Regulations proscribed country.) This 2nd party then transfers the same or modified material, still under the OS License of origin, to a 3rd party who is a resident or a citizen. The 2nd party is not constrained by U.S. Export Regulations.

A few of the much-used OS Licenses implicitly forbid this 2nd->3rd party transfer, but the language is so indirect that most 2nd parties would either miss it completely or fail to understand it.

Why would anyone care? Perhaps because the 1st party would have violated U.S. Export regulations. But to my mind more importantly: because in order to grow the OS movement and expand its scope in a productive way, some developers and OS community folks would like to engage government and corporate entities in the OS movement. These entities are not likely to come in unless they can fully satisfy U.S. Export Regulations, both because they provide static targets for litigation under those regulations, and because they are likely to believe that their own clientele and potential development contributors may wish to have, at one and the same time, the greatest freedom in their contributions, and a clear commitment that their contributions will not violate the intentions of the regulations.

For those that do care, I would appreciate any comments, or suggestions as to the minimal but easily understandable additions or edits to existing OS Licenses that would clear the flaw. Schwenn (talk) 16:34, 3 July 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Article talk pages aren't intended for use in discussing the subject matter in itself. However, in this case I think you're mistaken. The issue is explicitly addressed by the GPL, which says that any distribution restrictions over and above those in the GPL mean a revocation of the right to use or distribute the code at all. This is why until recently any cryptographic code in free software was developed and held outwith the US. If you have further questions on this issue I'd advise you to seek expert advice. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 17:23, 3 July 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I resynced the categories with the OSI (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/category). It is important to remember that we must follow their lead on the categories (if we are to categorize at all). Anything else would be original research. Superm401 - Talk 05:07, 18 March 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The current status of the libpng license - referred to on the page as the "libpng/zlib license" is unclear because of the addition of the UCITA clause to the license around 2000. I suggest a new category is required - "modified versions of OSI approved licenses", or something like that.

Jbowler (talk) 16:25, 30 June 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I do not understand how to find and us those bracket boxes. Someone please add a bias bracket box. This article is flat out wrong it is so biased. Open source does not automatically mean free. Companies can and do release source code while still charging for licensing and releasing the software under proprietary licenses. Open source is opening up the code to customers and the public. Free licensing is allowing end users to modify and distribute the program. One does not automatically equal the other. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.247.234.225 (talk) 22:24, 29 March 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Can you provide the references for the use of the term 'open source' that follow your definition? Because this isn't how the terminology evolved (or how I've ever seen it used). See History of open source . Sources there name the exact participants , date and motivation of the exact session where the term was created (open sourcing of Netscape - now Firefox etc) and it was precisely a conscious rebranding of free software. I will remove your NPOV template - but if you still feel its biased after reading about the term, please reinsert it. Aryah (talk) 00:05, 2 June 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]

But speaking of bias is it fair to say that identifying free and open source licences as the same is just a common misconception and a confusion propagated by free software advocates? the article itself notes the 'significant overlap' of the two categories, and the overlap is frankly more than significant, the lists differ in only a few cases, and the definitions of the two organizations don't differ in criteria for approval? Won't edit this just yet, but I might try softening the rethoric of that paragraph unless there are objections. Aryah (talk) 18:14, 8 June 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This doesn't really add on to the previous discussion but I find that the way the article currently reads seems biased, primarily the "benefits of open-source" section. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for open-source software, but the way that section is written makes it feel really pro-open-source, without writing the disadvantages. I'm thinking either adding a "disadvantages" section (which would be hard for me personally because I can't think of any) or just removing the benefit section entirely. It could just be me though so I dunno. eva2pare^[talk] 19:33, 14 September 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wait, why in the world was this section changed? The unsigned IP above is clearly wrong, based on the history discussed by Aryah above. Daniel J. Hakimi (talk) 19:45, 15 February 2020 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I am unsure if the distinguish tag should be included as it implies a strong distinction which is not supported by the article. The few sites addressing the difference between free software and open source tend to only claim a very minor difference in approved licenses. This makes me wonder if the tag doesn't do us a disservice by strongly proclaiming in the top that the two types are not to be confused with!. I am personally going to sleep on it for a bit before doing any change to it. Belorn (talk) 08:30, 22 April 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Decided against having the distinguish tag, given how WP:distinguish describes how the tag should be used. The relation between Open source licenses and Free software licenses should instead be mentioned in the lead. Belorn (talk) 17:56, 22 April 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I think the opening paragraph should make it clear that open source licenses are commonly found on works which are not open source. At this point, you can find Apache 2.0 and BSD licenses in the legal notices of hundreds of millions of products that run proprietary software. Sure there might be some version or part of the software that was at one time open source, but, for the most part, but it doesn't mean the version the user has on that device is open source.

Maybe we could say something along these lines:

An open source license is a statement or document provided by the copyright holder of work that grants recipients of the work permission to copy, modify, and redistribute the work. the term "open source license" is itself, misleading, as it is common to find open source licenses attached to proprietary (non open source) works. Most open source licenses specify some conditions along with the permissions they grant to users. The most common condition found in open source licenses is the requirement to preserve certain legal notices, such as copyright statements and a copy of the license itself. Some open source licenses also have conditions placed on distribution of the work that require you to make available to recipients of the work a copy of the human readable source code. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joshuagay (talk • contribs) 20:13, 8 November 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"Open source" (without dash, with dash, and disambiguation) are now redirected to the improved Open source disambiguation which may become a WP:broad concept article to reduce the extreme number of disambiguation-link alarms. Please read more on the latest developments on Talk:Open source and feel free to improve Open source. ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 17:06, 19 November 2018 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello, I am employed by Boston University's Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries. After reviewing this Wikipedia page, I believe that information from one of our faculty's scholarship might provide a valuable addition to this page. I would appreciate it if this requested edit could be reviewed.

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Add the following lines (in bold) to second paragraph: However, open-source licenses may have some restrictions, particularly regarding the expression of respect to the origin of software, such as a requirement to preserve the name of the authors and a copyright statement within the code, or a requirement to redistribute the licensed software only under the same license (as in a copyleft license). There has previously been debates about whether open source licenses, which permit copyholders to use, transfer, and modify software, have adequate consideration, should be viewed by the courts as legally enforceable contracts.^[1] While some academics have argued that open source licenses are not contracts because there is no consideration, others have argued that the significant societal value provided by the role that open source licenses play in promoting software development and improvement by facilitating access to source code offers adequate consideration.^[2]

Cf2022 (talk) 04:30, 5 April 2021 (UTC)Cf2022Reply[reply]

The article should contain at least a brief mention of the most prominent/common examples, MIT, GNU, etc., similar to what is at Free software license#Comparison. Caleb Stanford (talk) 22:10, 23 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Open-source license/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Sohom Datta (talk · contribs) 13:18, 11 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Taking this on, it might take me a while since I will be travelin over this week. Sohom (talk) 13:18, 11 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks, and safe travels, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 21:26, 11 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

• Stallman witnessed fragmentation that he attributed to proprietary software, and founded the free software movement. This sentence is phrased weirdly, it might be best to break up and put some distance between these two actions. (ie. stallman witnessed xyz, and did abc, which resulted in cde. As a result of this, he is considered one of the earliest founders of the free software movement.)
  • Done, rephrased, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 23:57, 14 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
• He contrasted the proprietary model where small pools of secretive workers would carry out this work with the development of Linux where the pool of testers included potentially the entire world. I'm not so sure about this, does he specifically mention the proprietary model ? My understanding is that he is comparing and contrasting two models of open-source development and not proprietary and open-source development.
  • Raymond discusses that also. Here is a quote from that chapter: "The developer who uses only his or her own brain in a closed project is going to fall behind the developer who knows how to create an open, evolutionary context in which feedback exploring the design space, code contributions, bug-spotting, and other improvements come from from hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people. But the traditional Unix world was prevented from pushing this approach to the ultimate by several factors. One was the legal contraints of various licenses, trade secrets, and commercial interests." Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk)
    • While I do agree with what your saying here, I'd like a third-party citation that mentions this, instead of us interpreting the author's words here. Sohom (talk) 01:03, 15 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
      • Done, added a citation to Brock (2022): "The seminal The Cathedral and The Bazaar, Eric Raymond’s book on Open Source, emphasised the advantages of distributed, collaborative development compared to the controlled and closed development practices of proprietary software vendors as one of the first texts on Open Source." Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 02:17, 15 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
• The OSI succeeded in bringing open-source development to corporate developers including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Netscape, Mozilla, Apache, Apple Inc., Microsoft, and Nokia. WP:SEAOFBLUE. You will probably need to qualify why you mention each of these companies.
  • Done. I had linked organizations that created open-source licenses. To reduce the "sea of blue", I've cut the links down to only organizations that have created licenses widely in use in current FOSS projects, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 23:57, 14 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]
• For example, this is why IBM is a trademark for International Business Machines, which supplies mainframe computing solutions, and the International Brotherhood of Magicians which supplies guidance on stage magic. This particular sentence reads a bit textbookish/instructive, maybe it needs to be rephrased ?
  • Done, I've clipped it out rather than rephrase. In retrospect, I was using it as a kind of "instructive" example, which it would still be if rephrased, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 23:57, 14 February 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]