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Tue, 25 Sep 2007

OSI vs. FSF

The Open Source Initiative and the Free Software Foundation are two organizations that have put their mark of approval on Free/Libre Open Source Software licenses. For those just joining us, those licenses are the permissions documents that make collaboration on software legal. The GNU General Public License and the "BSD License" (as if there's only one) are the two most famous ones.

I keep hearing about "the proliferation of Open Source licenses", and I also hear people claim their software is Open Source when there's no indication they're using a license that guarantees important freedoms to the software's users. I don't think I ever hear people claim their software is Free Software when it's not - at least, not when they use capital letters.

I also hear from people that Open Source software and Free Software are different things. My feelings on this are that people using the different terms are doing the same things, they just may be thinking different things when doing it. Both groups have an interest in continuing to do what they're doing, even if they think of it differently.

(If you can find me an easy-ish to parse page listing the feelings of other organizations on the topic, like Debian, then I'll try to add them to this next time 'round.)

I wrote a program (source) that scrapes the Open Source Initiative's list of licenses and the Free Software Foundation's list of licenses and comments about them and generate a table showing you which licenses have been approved by which one. I began coding in earnest on Software Freedom Day, and I'm publishing it and its results in belated celebration of that day. So here you all go:

License nameLicense URLsApproved by
CeCILL version 2www.cecill.info/licences.en.html fsf
Interbase Public License, Version 1.0www.borland.com/devsupport/interbase/opensource/IPL.html fsf
Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimerwww.opensource.org/licenses/historical.php osi
XFree86 1.1 Licensefsf
Zend License, Version 2.0fsf
PHP License, Version 3.01www.php.net/license/3_01.txt fsf
Attribution Assurance Licenseswww.opensource.org/licenses/attribution.php osi
GNU Library or "Lesser" General Public License (LGPL)www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php osi
Mozilla Public License 1.0 (MPL)www.opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.0.php osi
Open Group Test Suite Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/opengroup.php osi
Adaptive Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/apl1.0.php osi
OCLC Research Public License 2.0www.opensource.org/licenses/oclc2.php osi
Modified BSD licensewww.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#5 fsf
Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL)www.opensource.org/licenses/sisslpl.php osi
GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html fsf
Frameworx Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/frameworx.php osi
Academic Free Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php opensource.org/licenses/academic.php osi fsf
Ricoh Source Code Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/ricohpl.php osi
Python Software Foundation Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/PythonSoftFoundation.php osi
Python licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/pythonpl.php osi
OpenLDAP License, Version 2.7www.openldap.org/software/release/license.html fsf
LaTeX Project Public License 1.3awww.latex-project.org/lppl/lppl-1-3a.txt fsf
Expat Licensewww.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt fsf
X.Net Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/xnet.php osi
MITRE Collaborative Virtual Workspace License (CVW License)www.opensource.org/licenses/mitrepl.php osi
LaTeX Project Public License 1.2www.latex-project.org/lppl/lppl-1-2.txt fsf
Apache License, Version 1.1www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1 fsf
Zope Public License version 2.0www.zope.org/Resources/ZPL fsf
PHP Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/php.php osi
OpenSSL licensewww.sdisw.com/openssl.htm fsf
License of ZLibwww.gzip.org/zlib/zlib_license.html fsf
zlib/libpng licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/zlib-license.php osi
License of Perl 5 and belowfsf
RealNetworks Public Source License V1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/real.php osi fsf
Zope Public License version 1www.zope.org/Resources/ZPL fsf
Cryptix General Licensewww.cryptix.org/LICENSE.TXT fsf
Original BSD licensewww.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#6 fsf
Nokia Open Source Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/nokia.php opensource.org/licenses/nokia.html osi fsf
License of Vim, Version 6.1 or laterwww.vim.org/htmldoc/uganda.html fsf
Apache Software Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/apachepl.php osi
GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html fsf
Fair Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/fair.php osi
Qt Public License (QPL)www.opensource.org/licenses/qtpl.php osi
Clarified Artistic Licensewww.statistica.unimib.it/utenti/dellavedova/software/artistic2.html fsf
IBM Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.php osi
Apple Public Source Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/apsl-2.0.php www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt osi fsf
Open Software Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php osi
eCos license version 2.0www.gnu.org/licenses/ecos-license.html fsf
Sybase Open Watcom Public License 1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/sybase.php osi
Netizen Open Source License (NOSL), Version 1.0bits.netizen.com.au/licenses/NOSL/nosl.txt fsf
W3C Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/W3C.php osi
Jabber Open Source Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/jabberpl.php osi
Eiffel Forum Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/eiffel.php osi
License of Netscape Javascriptfsf
Reciprocal Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/rpl.php osi
EU DataGrid Software Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/eudatagrid.php osi fsf
License of xinetdwww.xinetd.org/license fsf
Affero General Public License version 1www.affero.org/oagpl.html fsf
Old OpenLDAP License, Version 2.3fsf
License of the iMatix Standard Function Libraryfsf
New BSD licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php osi
Berkeley Database Licensewww.gnu.org/licenses/info/Sleepycat.html fsf
Nethack General Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/nethack.php osi
Lucent Public License Version 1.02www.opensource.org/licenses/lucent1.02.php plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/license.html osi fsf
Eclipse Public Licensewww.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html www.opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php osi fsf
Zope Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/zpl.php osi
University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php www.otm.uiuc.edu/faculty/forms/opensource.asp osi fsf
Condor Public Licensewww.cs.wisc.edu/condor/condor-public-license.html fsf
FreeBSD licensewww.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-license.html fsf
IBM Public License, Version 1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.php fsf
CUA Office Public License Version 1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/cuaoffice.php osi
License of Rubywww.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt fsf
Apache License, 2.0www.opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 osi fsf
Jabber Open Source License, Version 1.0fsf
Sleepycat Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/sleepycat.php osi
License of Python 1.6a2 and earlier versionswww.python.org/doc/Copyright.html fsf
Artistic licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license.php osi
Standard ML of New Jersey Copyright Licensecm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/license.html fsf
Artistic license 2.0www.opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license-2.0.php www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0 osi fsf
Lucent Public License (Plan9)www.opensource.org/licenses/plan9.php osi
Common Public License 1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/cpl1.0.php www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html osi fsf
NASA Open Source Agreement 1.3www.opensource.org/licenses/nasa1.3.php osi
GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html fsf
Vovida Software License v. 1.0www.opensource.org/licenses/vovidapl.php osi
Open Software License, all versions through 3.0www.opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php fsf
Common Development and Distribution Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/cddl1.php www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing/cddllicense.txt osi fsf
Public Domainfsf
wxWindows Library Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/wxwindows.php osi
Educational Community License, Version 2.0www.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php osi
X11 Licensewww.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#3 fsf
Mozilla Public License 1.1 (MPL)www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.html www.opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.1.php osi fsf
Sun Public Licensewww.netbeans.org/about/legal/spl.html www.opensource.org/licenses/sunpublic.php osi fsf
License of Python 2.0.1, 2.1.1, and newer versionswww.python.org/2.0.1/license.html fsf
GNU General Public License (GPL)www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php osi
Boost Software Licensewww.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt fsf
Eiffel Forum License V2.0www.gnu.org/licenses/eiffel-forum-license-2.html www.opensource.org/licenses/ver2_eiffel.php osi fsf
Naumen Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/naumen.php osi
Entessa Public Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/entessa.php osi
W3C Software Notice and Licensewww.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231 fsf
Computer Associates Trusted Open Source License 1.1www.opensource.org/licenses/ca-tosl1.1.php osi
Sun Industry Standards Source License 1.0www.openoffice.org/licenses/sissl_license.html fsf
GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html fsf
Motosoto Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/motosoto.php osi
MIT licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php osi
Phorum License, Version 2.0phorum.org/license.txt fsf
Apache License, Version 1.0www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.0 fsf
License of Python 1.6b1 through 2.0 and 2.1www.handle.net/python_licenses/python1.6_9-5-00.html fsf
Q Public License (QPL), Version 1.0www.trolltech.com/developer/licensing/qpl.html fsf
Netscape Public License (NPL)www.mozilla.org/NPL/NPL-1.1.html fsf
Intel Open Source Licensewww.opensource.org/licenses/intel-open-source-license.html www.opensource.org/licenses/intel-open-source-license.php osi fsf

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