From 837bcc7370aca38cbfd8de731255ee7fc99bb8c1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: John Gabriele Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 11:53:05 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Added info on the two general types of FLOSS licenses, and changed "restricted"/"permissive". --- docs/writing/license.rst | 21 ++++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/writing/license.rst b/docs/writing/license.rst index a66e137..3b4f479 100644 --- a/docs/writing/license.rst +++ b/docs/writing/license.rst @@ -6,11 +6,26 @@ Open source. There are plenty of `open source licenses `_ available to choose from. +In general, these licenses tend to fall into one of two categories: + +1. licenses that focus more on the user's freedom to do with the + software as they please (these are the more-permissive open + source licenses such as the MIT, BSD, & Apache), and + +2. licenses that focus more on making sure that the code itself — + including any changes made to it and distributed along with it — + always remains free (these are the less-permissive free software + licenses, for example, the GPL and LGPL). + +The latter are less-permissive in the sense that they don't permit +someone to add code to the software and distribute it without also +including the source code for their changes. + To help you choose one for your project, there's a `license chooser `_, use it. -Non-Restrictive +More-Permissive ::::::::::::::: PSFL @@ -34,8 +49,8 @@ Apache ------ -Restrictive -::::::::::: +Less-Permissive +::::::::::::::: LGPL -- 1.8.0.2