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This comparison only covers software licenses which have a linked Wikipedia article for details and which are approved by at least one of the following expert groups: the Free Software Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, the Debian Project and the Fedora Project. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see List of free-content licences.
FOSS stands for "Free and Open Source Software". There is no one universally agreed-upon definition of FOSS software and various groups maintain approved lists of licenses. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is one such organization keeping a list of open-source licenses.[1] The Free Software Foundation (FSF) maintains a list of what it considers free.[2] FSF's free software and OSI's open-source licenses together are called FOSS licenses. There are licenses accepted by the OSI which are not free as per the free software definition. The open source definition allows for further restrictions like price, type of contribution and origin of the contribution, e.g. the case of the NASA Open Source Agreement, which requires the code to be "original" work.[3][4] The OSI does not endorse FSF license analysis (interpretation) as per their disclaimer.[5]
The FSF's free Software definition focuses on the user's unrestricted rights to use a program, to study and modify it, to copy it, and redistribute it for any purpose, which are considered by the FSF the four essential freedoms.[6][7] The OSI's open-source criteria focuses on the availability of the source code and the advantages of an unrestricted and community driven development model.[8] Yet, many FOSS licenses, like the Apache License, and all Free Software licenses allow commercial use of FOSS components.[9]
For a simpler comparison across the most common licenses see free-software license comparison.
The following table compares various features of each license and is a general guide to the terms and conditions of each license, based on seven subjects or categories. Recent tools like the European Commissions' Joinup Licensing Assistant,[10] makes possible the licenses selection and comparison based on more than 40 subjects or categories, with access to their SPDX identifier and full text. The table below lists the permissions and limitations regarding the following subjects:
In this table, "permissive" means the software has minimal restrictions on how it can be used, modified, and redistributed, usually including a warranty disclaimer. "Copyleft" means the software requires that its source code be made publicly available and that all provisions in the license be preserved in derivative works.
Other licenses that don't have information:
This table lists for each license what organizations from the FOSS community have approved it be it as a "free software" or as an "open source" license , how those organizations categorize it, and the license compatibility between them for a combined or mixed derivative work. Organizations usually approve specific versions of software licenses. For instance, a FSF approval means that the Free Software Foundation (FSF) considers a license to be free-software license. The FSF recommends at least "Compatible with GPL" and preferably copyleft. The OSI recommends a mix of permissive and copyleft licenses, the Apache License 2.0, 2- & 3-clause BSD license, GPL, LGPL, MIT license, MPL 2.0, CDDL and EPL.
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Comparison of free and open-source software licenses
- Labour frontbencher advocates for open source software and regulatory innovation - Computing - February 9th, 2024
- Open Source Software: Meaning, Importance, and Examples | Spiceworks - Spiceworks News and Insights - February 9th, 2024
- Office of National Cyber Director Issues 2023 Year-End Report on Open Source Software Security Initiative - Executive Gov - February 1st, 2024
- 40 Must-Have Free Open Source Software for 2023 - Tecmint - October 16th, 2023
- What Is Open Source Software and How Does It Work? | Synopsys - March 5th, 2023
- 15 Best Open Source Software You Must Try in 2023 - Turing - February 25th, 2023
- Cyber Security Today, Feb. 24, 2023 Holes in open source software, ransomware gang tries to evade cyber insurers and more - IT World Canada - February 25th, 2023
- What is Open Source Software? - SourceForge Articles - February 15th, 2023
- About the Open Source Initiative | Open Source Initiative - December 28th, 2022
- Building an open source software community - SAS Users - December 4th, 2022
- The US Securing Open Source Software Act of 2022 is a step in the right direction - TechCrunch - November 25th, 2022
- Microsoft: Hackers are using open source software and fake jobs in ... - November 17th, 2022
- Open Source Software Directory - OSSD - October 23rd, 2022
- Source Code for Open Source Software Components - Oracle - October 15th, 2022
- We dont teach developers how to write secure software Linux Foundations David A Wheeler on reversing the CVE surge - The Daily Swig - October 15th, 2022
- Learn Linux online for free with Linux Foundation Courses from edX - TechRepublic - October 15th, 2022
- The Blockchain Sector is growing with the help of Open-Source Technology - Wales 247 - October 15th, 2022
- GCHQ chief warns of Chinese . US open source software bill advances. Financial Stability Board on crypto regulation. - The CyberWire - October 15th, 2022
- When transparency is also obscurity: The conundrum that is open-source security - Help Net Security - October 7th, 2022
- You thought you bought software all you bought was a lie - The Register - October 7th, 2022
- Linux Foundation Energy Gains More Industry Support to Drive the Energy Transition - PR Newswire - October 7th, 2022
- State of Open Source Survey By OpenLogic To Take Place In 2023 - Open Source For You - September 29th, 2022
- 15-Year-Old Python Vulnerability Still Affects Over 350,000 Open-Source Projects - Spiceworks News and Insights - September 29th, 2022
- How Can Open Source Sustain Itself without Creating Burnout? - thenewstack.io - September 29th, 2022
- OpenAI opens doors to DALL-E after the horse has bolted to Midjourney and others - The Register - September 29th, 2022
- Red Hat And NdcTech Collaborate To Deliver Solutions Based On Open Source - Open Source For You - September 21st, 2022
- Paladin Cloud Joins the Cloud Native Computing Foundation - GlobeNewswire - September 21st, 2022
- Open Source Software - W3 - September 13th, 2022
- Understanding the hows and whys of open source audits - Security Boulevard - September 13th, 2022
- New Metaverse Track at O3DCon to Tackle Big Questions and Practical Applications of Emerging Graphical Technology - PR Web - September 13th, 2022
- TechOps is a mess: Open source is the solution - BetaNews - September 13th, 2022
- Rezilion Recognized as SBOM Tool Provider in Gartner Emerging Technologies Trend Report on Software Bills of Materials (SBOM) USA - English - USA -... - September 13th, 2022
- Open Security: The next step in the evolution of cybersecurity - SC Media - September 13th, 2022
- 11 Interesting Firefox Add-ons to Improve Your Browsing Experience - It's FOSS - September 13th, 2022
- why the giants fight over open source - Gearrice - September 5th, 2022
- Compare Files in Linux With These Tools - It's FOSS - September 5th, 2022
- Microsoft and ByteDance are collaborating on a big AI project, even as US-China rivalry heats up - CNBC - August 28th, 2022
- OpenSSF Announces 13 New Members Committed to Strengthening the Security of the Open Source Software Supply Chain - DARKReading - August 20th, 2022
- How W4 plans to monetize the Godot game engine using Red Hats open source playbook - TechCrunch - August 20th, 2022
- Secure Open Source Rewards' to help in preventing assaults on the software supply chain. Check out how! - Economic Times - August 20th, 2022
- Free Dev Tools! But Whats the Catch? - DevOps.com - August 20th, 2022
- This Company is Aiming to Do to the Guest what VMWare and AWS Did to the Host - GeekWire - August 20th, 2022
- What Is Open-Source Software? (Definition and Examples) - August 12th, 2022
- What is open source software? | IBM - August 12th, 2022
- 55+ Best Open Source PC Software for almost Everything - August 12th, 2022
- 80 percent of enterprises use open source software and nearly all worry about security - BetaNews - August 12th, 2022
- The US Military Should Red-Team Open Source Code - Defense One - August 12th, 2022
- Boeing joins the ELISA Project as a Premier Member to Strengthen its Commitment to Safety-Critical Applications - PR Newswire - August 12th, 2022
- Looking for simplicity in the cloud? The future is going to be open and hybrid - The Register - August 12th, 2022
- AAIS & The Linux Foundation Welcome Jefferson Braswell as openIDL Project Executive Director - The Bakersfield Californian - August 4th, 2022
- Wicked Good Development Episode 13: Hacks and Ax, July Edition - Security Boulevard - August 4th, 2022
- Microsoft changes its policy against the sale of open source software in the Microsoft Store - BetaNews - July 26th, 2022
- BMW Group Joins the Linux Foundation's Yocto Project - PR Newswire - July 18th, 2022
- Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) - UNESCO - July 9th, 2022
- Know Your Enemy and Yourself: A Deep Dive on CISA KEV - Security Boulevard - June 29th, 2022
- CD Foundation Announces State of CD in 2022 Report, Opens Third Annual cdCon with New Project CDEvents, New... - DevOps.com - June 10th, 2022
- Samsung teams up with Red Hat for memory software development - The Korea Herald - May 25th, 2022
- OpenSSF Helping to Secure Open Source Software - ITPro Today - May 25th, 2022
- Only Microsoft can give open-source the gift of NTFS. Only Microsoft needs to - The Register - May 11th, 2022
- Protestware: what organisations should be aware of when using open source software - Lexology - May 11th, 2022
- This Week in Washington IP: Open Source Cybersecurity Solutions, Civil Capabilities for Space Situational Awareness and Using AI for Effective RegTech... - May 11th, 2022
- Red Hat Expands Capabilities to Provide Streamlined Application Development and Delivery in the Cloud - Business Wire - April 28th, 2022
- Industry 4.0 why smart manufacturing is moving closer to the edge - The Register - April 28th, 2022
- Open source software and DevOps: What are they, and how can your business benefit? - SmartCompany - April 13th, 2022
- Truist Joins the Open Invention Network - GlobeNewswire - April 13th, 2022
- OpenMetal Joins the Open Infrastructure Foundation - PR Newswire - April 13th, 2022
- An Early Test of The Adams Administration's Values and Tech Prowess - Gotham Gazette - April 13th, 2022
- Open Source Software Faces Threats of Protestware and Sabotage - WIRED - April 1st, 2022
- The Promise of Open Source Code and the Paradox of ProtestWare - Security Boulevard - April 1st, 2022
- Software Composition Analysis Market to Witness Massive Growth by 2029 | Open Source Software, Oracle, Smartbear Software - Digital Journal - April 1st, 2022
- Why now is the time to host your code in the cloud - TechRadar - April 1st, 2022
- Those looking for clues to Googles search demise are asking the wrong question - TechRepublic - April 1st, 2022
- Open Source Sabotage Incident Hits Software Supply Chain | eSecurityPlanet - eSecurity Planet - January 15th, 2022
- Open-source software and threats to critical infrastructure. - The CyberWire - January 15th, 2022
- Google wants secure open-source software to be the future - TechRadar - January 15th, 2022
- Baumer, Infineon, Qualcomm Innovation Center, Percepio and Silicon Labs Select Zephyr RTOS for their Next Generation of Products and Solutions - Yahoo... - January 15th, 2022
- How Open Source Is Shaping The World Around Us - Outlook India - December 19th, 2021
- The Projects and People That Shaped Security in 2021 The New Stack - thenewstack.io - December 19th, 2021
- Log4j: Where's Fancy Bear been? Right there, choppin' lumber... - The CyberWire - December 19th, 2021
- Aqua Security acquires Argon to protect the software supply chain - VentureBeat - December 6th, 2021