Open-source Licensing 101 - alavi.me (alavi.me)

submitted 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) by somegeek@programming.dev to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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The basics about types of open-source software licenses, their differences, how to choose a license etc.

A lot of people, even developers still think "open source is open source" and don't know about FOSS and Copyleft. I think this sheds some light on the differences.

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[-] illusionist@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I use mainly and support FOSS and gpl but this "guide" is poorly written. Use better wording. There are valid reasons to go for MIT.

The MIT is a very common and lax license today. It is one of the most common licenses for open source projects. Such licenses make exploitation of volunteers by big corporations as easy as taking candy from a child, so they can takeover the FOSS scene and make users pay the price for things that otherwise could be free (both in price and in freedom). That's why all big corporations heavily push permissive licenses.

If you value freedom of software, don't just use the MIT or other lax licenses, unless you have a good reason to do so.

[-] somegeek@programming.dev 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 14 minutes ago)

Unless you have a good reason to do so

Of course I have my own opinions and some of them are quite spicy.

There are good reasons to use lax licenses and I think most of them are stated in that same section you are quoting from.

How do you think I can improve it?

EDIT:

I reworded that part. You were right, it was poorly written. I was very tired. I feel like the phrasing is better now, although my pessimistic stance towards permissive licenses still remains, while pointing out their usecases.

Thanks for your input! If anything else catches your eye, please let me know.