Hello all,

I was searching for some good guide to choose a license for my software but I could not find anything good. I read about 10 articles but none of them was satisfying enough. I'm searching for some overview of 10-15 licenses with good explanations what they permit and what they don't. If anyone has some good links, it would be great.

Thanks

Might be much much simpler if you tell us what your aims are with regard to rights/copies/dissemination/etc and then we can suggest a licence which matches those aims.

Well, because the software is nothing special and I just do it in my free time I want it to be open sourced. I don't want anyone be able to do derivative works and I want to be the only copyright holder. It can be used commercially but it cannot be modified. Only I can make modification to it. Basically the freedoms I permit is to see the source code and use it as it is.

Thanks

I'm not a lawyer and may be therefore completely wrong
on this one, but I think that you've already created your
license. Just cut down the text a bit, copy it in a text file
and in each header and .c/.cpp or whatever language
you use, and you're done

BUT

I believe that you may be in conflict with laws of several
countries if you allow your code to be used commercially
and at the same time do not allow modifications (AFAIK
here in germany a company which legally uses a soft-
ware is also allowed to reverse engineer and modify it
for maintenance purposes. Guess that applies to other
countries, too)

I could not simply do that because I need an official license and I don't want to rely on people's good will. So if I put this text in my source code files it is simply nothing, because it hasn't been approved by court etc.

Thanks

You program sounds sort of like a shareware type program but with few differences. Shareware you can use it for private or commercial reasons (at times) for free but the source code is off limits and no one is allowed to modify it.

I don't think there is a license out there that has it so:

1. The Software is Free (Commercial or Private use)
2. OpenSource so anyone can see the code, etc.
3. Only maintainer can modify source legally


That to me would be one really hard license for anyone to follow, or rather you trying to track down any violators.

I think you have contradictory goals here. You want your program to be open source, but you don't want anyone besides you to modify the code or do derivitive work from it. I don't mean to be rude, but what is the point of distributing the soruce code if you're not going to allow anyone to do anything other than look at it? Wouldn't it be better to distribute under one of the standard open source licenses but create an "official" project that you control?

Ok... so probably I will have to change some of my requirements. Is there a license which forbids derivative works? And another license which forbids using the product commercially? And do you know any pros/cons of dual licensing?

Your probably better off making your own license. If you truly don't want others to modify your source code, your probably better off just having it proprietary with no seeing of the source code except by you.

Why open the source code or give it away if no one is allowed to modify, change or use any of it.. ??

Well, I just want people to look at the ideas and how I implemented them. That's the reason. But probably I will end up using some other license. Any other suggestions for license if you don't consider my requirements?

Thanks

Don't consider your requirements.. ok, use the GPL then, its very powerful..

Maybe your better off reading different types of licenses.. You can read the GPL, Apache License, BSD License and many others.. or just make your own to suit your own needs.

There you go, I knew there was a list out there somewhere..

Wrong, you're not looking for an Open Source license at all. What you're looking for is a Microsoft Shared Source License.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/s...e/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/s...g/default.mspx

The reason Open Source works is because it's not about "me, me, and me". It's about "us, team, and cooperation". The more you give, the more you get.

As a lawyer, but one who is probably not licensed to practice in YOUR jurisdiction, so no specific legal advice,...

It sounds like you want to use a license similar to the ones that are used by game makers who allow mods to be made for their programs... modifications become the property of the original author, may not be re-distributed for profit, or used in an environment where a fee is charged for the use of the software...

I'd suggest looking at those game-type licenses to get a good example.

However, I would REALLY question your desire not to allow modifications... Mods improve a product... without allowing them, you limit the ability to make your software better,... unless your goal is to continue to release it as BOTH OSS and proprietary...