Open-source license
An
open-source license is a copyright
license for
computer software that follows the principles of the
open source movement. More formally, a license is considered open-source when it has approved by the
Open Source Initiative, with the criteria being the
Open Source Definition. Software in the
public domain (that is, with no copyright license at all), meets those criteria as long as all source code is made available, and is therefore recognized by the OSI and entitled to use their
service mark.
In addition, OSI has approved the following licenses as of 2003:
It should be noted that the
Free Software Foundation has different criteria for evaluating whether or not a license qualifies a program as
free software. See
Free software license.
See also: open source, open source movement, Open Source Initiative, Free Software Foundation, Public domain