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Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing
book

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

by Andrew M. St. Laurent
August 2004
Beginner to intermediate
208 pages
8h 3m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

Chapter 7. Software Development Using Open Source and Free Software Licenses

The purpose of open source and free software licensing is to permit and encourage the involvement by licensees in improvement, modification, and distribution of the licensed work. This open development model of software development is the unique strength of the open source and free software movement. While the open source and free software licenses already discussed approach open software development differently, open development is the goal.

This chapter describes the basic principles of software development under open source and free software licenses, including the problems of forking, community development under the bazaar and the cathedral models, how open source and free software projects are initiated and maintained, and the effect that license choices can have on software development. This chapter also briefly discusses the basic principles of drafting contracts, for those who are interested in drafting their own software license.

Models of Open Source and Free Software Development

The open source and free software licensing is driven by the development model, or models, that it is intended to encourage. After all, there is little point to permitting the "free" modification and distribution of a work if people do not actually take the opportunity to modify and distribute the licensed work.

These licenses are intended to permit, and indeed, to encourage the contributions of others to the project. ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596005814Errata Page