Open Source Definition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition

Under the Open Source Definition, licenses must meet ten conditions in order to be considered open source licenses

  1. Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold.
  2. Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable.
  3. Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed.
  4. Integrity of The Author’s Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
  5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no-one can be locked out.
  6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
  7. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
  8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
  9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
  10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.

Anything else might be considered free of charge, but is not open source. Just a reminder.

  • May 26, 2006
  • | Category: General
  • | Comments: 0

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