A revised version of my Open Source Licensing 101 talk, as presented at OSCON 2017

1. Open Source Licenses
101
Jim Jagielski
@jimjag
May 10-11, 2017 : Austin, TX
AKA: How I learned to stop worrying and love Licenses

2. About Me
! Apache Software Foundation
- Co-founder, Director, Member and Developer
! Director
- Outercurve, MARSEC-XL, OSSI, OSI (ex)…
! Developer
- Mega FOSS projects
! IANAL
! Sr. Director: Tech Fellows: Capital One
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

3. What’s in your PROJECT?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

4. Governance/Community
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

5. Walled Garden
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

6. BDFL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
“Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses,
not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!”

7. Meritocracy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
“Out of chaos comes order”

8. Licenses
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

9. Why?
! Copyright is the default
! Open Source is everywhere
! The license determines use, re-use and distribution
! Not understanding means risk
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

10. License Goals
! Ensure what parts remain open source
! Maintain control over code and direction
! Provide common implementation for standards
! Build community or commercial marketplace
! For most end-users, this is the sole touch-point
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

11. Free software
! “Free” as in “free speech” (not as in “free beer”, although free beer is good!)
! Software freedom is a moral imperative.
! Free Software Definition:
- 4 basic freedoms must be maintained
! Free Software ~== Open Source
! F(L)OSS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

12. Open Source
! For software to be Open Source, it must be under an OSI approved Open Source
License
! Open Source Definition: http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
- 10 criteria
! At last count, over 60 exist
! New Open Source licenses are very hard to get approved
! There are really 3 main types
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

13. Promises
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

14. Let’s pretend
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
==

15. Use
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

16. Modify
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

17. Share
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

18. Licenses
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

19. Give me Credit
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
Permissive:
ALv2
MIT
BSD

20. Give me Fixes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
Weak Copyleft:
EPL
LGPL

21. Give me Everything
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag
Strong Copyleft
GPLv2
GPLv3
AGPL
GPL
GPL
GPL
GPL
GPL
GPL
GPL GPL
GPL
GPL
GPLGPL
GPL
GPL
GPL

22. Take Aways
! A license is a tool. There is no “always right” license
! Take time to decide on the right license type
! Changing licenses can be very difficult
! Avoid “vanity” licenses
! ALWAYS specify a license!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag

23. Thanks!
! Jim Jagielski
- @jimjag (follow me!)
- http://www.jimjag.com/
- http://slideshare.net/jimjag/
- jimjag@gmail.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. - Jim Jagielski - @jimjag