Open source license

legal Any document that attempts to specify open source

usage and distribution of software. These licenses are

usually drafted by experts and are likely to be more legally

sound than one a programmer could write. However, loopholes

do exist.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of open source licenses:

1. Public Domain - No license.

2. BSD License - An early open source license

3. General Public License (GPL) - The copyleft license of

the Free Software Foundation. Used for GNU software and

much of Linux.

4. Artistic License Less restrictive

than the GPL, permitted by Perl in addition to the GPL.

5. Mozilla Public Licenses .

(MPL, MozPL) and Netscape Public License (NPL).

["Open Sources", pub. O'Reilly, full text].

(1999-11-28)