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Software licensing

MIT

  • MIT License
  • A permissive license allowing users to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and sublicense the software with few restrictions.
  • It only requires that the original copyright notice and license be included in any distributed copies or substantial portions of the software.

GPL-2.0-only

  • GNU General Public License, version 2, only.
  • A copyleft license that requires derivative works to also be open source and distributed under the same GPL license.

GPL-3.0-only

  • GNU General Public License, version 3, only
  • Addresses some loopholes in v2 regarding software patents and digital rights management (DRM).

LGPL-2.1-only

  • GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1, only

LGPL-3.0-only

  • GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3, only

Apache-2.0

  • Apache License, version 2.0
  • A permissive license that allows users to freely use, modify, and distribute software, but it also includes an explicit grant of patent rights to contributors.
  • Users must provide proper attribution, and if the software is modified, they must state any changes made.

BSD-2-Clause

  • BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License (Berkeley Software Distribution)
  • A family of permissive licenses similar to the MIT License.
  • The 2-Clause BSD is simple and permissive, requiring only attribution.

BSD-3-Clause

  • BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
  • The 3-Clause BSD adds a clause to prevent others from using the names of the project contributors for endorsement.

MPL-2.0

  • Mozilla Public License 2.0
  • A weak copyleft license that allows users to combine MPL-licensed code with proprietary code, but modifications to the MPL-covered code itself must remain open-source.

EPL-2.0

  • Eclipse Public License 2.0
  • A weak copyleft license that is commonly used for software projects from the Eclipse Foundation.
  • Users can use, modify, and distribute code, but any modified versions must be made available under the EPL.

CC0-1.0

  • Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (Public Domain Dedication)
  • A public domain dedication license that allows software to be freely used, modified, and distributed without any restriction.

ISC

  • ISC License
  • similar to MIT/BSD

0BSD