Open-source license
license for computer software that makes the source code available. One popular set of open source licenses are those approved by the Open Source Initiative, with the criteria being their 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:
Non-OSF open source licenses
Licenses which are open source but not OSF Open Source include:
- Solaris
- PGP
- SpamPal (an anti-spam program with a license which prohibits spamming as a means of selling the program or derivative works. Since that restricts a field of endaevor, it's not OSF Open Source.)
Comparisons
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.
Likewise, the Debian project has its own criteria, the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
See also
