August 2004
Beginner to intermediate
208 pages
8h 3m
English
Content preview from Understanding Open Source and Free Software LicensingBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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The Open Source Definition
Now that we have examined the basic principles of copyright and contract and contrasted the operation of those principles with those of open source licensing, it is worth discussing in some detail the definition of open source licensing.
The Open Source Definition is the definition propounded by the Open Source Initiative, used to describe which licenses qualify as "Open Source" licenses. The Open Source Initiative also certifies licenses as OSI Certified to indicate that they fall within the Open Source Definition. We have already seen the basic principles of open source licensing: open source licenses must permit non-exclusive commercial exploitation of the licensed work, must make available the work's source code, and must permit the creation of derivative works from the work itself. Each of these principles is expressed in the Open Source Definition, and, as we will see later, in the open source licenses discussed later in the book.
The Open Source Definition[6] begins as follows:
Introduction
Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
This requirement embodies the open distribution ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.