Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

by Andrew M. St. Laurent

If you've held back from developing open source or free software projects because you don't understand the implications of the various licenses, you're not alone. Many developers believe in releasing their software freely, but have hesitated to do so because they're concerned about losing control over their software. Licensing issues are complicated, and both the facts and fallacies you hear word-of-mouth can add to the confusion. Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing helps you make sense of the different options available to you. This concise guide focuses on annotated licenses, offering an in-depth explanation of how they compare and interoperate, and how license choices affect project possibilities. Written in clear language that you don't have to be a lawyer to understand, the book answers such questions What rights am I giving up? How will my use of OS/FS licensing affect future users or future developers? Does a particular use of this software--such as combining it with proprietary software--leave me vulnerable to lawsuits? Following a quick look at copyright law, contracts, and the definition of "open source," the book tackles the spectrum of licensing, The book wraps up with a look at the legal effects--both positive and negative--of open source/free software licensing. Licensing is a major part of what open source and free software are all about, but it's still one of the most complicated areas of law. Even the very simple licenses are tricky. Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing bridges the gap between the open source vision and the practical implications of its legal underpinnings. If open source and free software licenses interest you, this book will help you understand them. If you're an open source/free software developer, this book is an absolute necessity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Software, Cultural

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[TruongSinh Tran-Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some chapters (about general intellectual property, copyright, license etc) are okay and informative, while some others are just quoting and explaining common licenses, and the explanation leaves a lot to be desired. There are only handful of "case examples" used to explain how a license is violated and its consequences, but the author could have much more, 10 or even 100 times the amount such "case examples".

The book was published in 2004, thus there have been a lot of changes since, such as GPL vs AGPL in terms of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), whether API is copyrightable in what can be a landmark case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_....

[Michal Ormoš · Rating 3 out of 5]

[latest edition has a 305 pages]
This is more of a manual than a book. The First 200 pages just describing individual licenses word by word from legal character. The last 100 are talking more about the impacts and differences as well as how to use it in development and differentiate in individual projects.
But I believe one day I will come back to this book as a manual. Otherwise, as a book, it is hard and long reading. Recommending starts from page 200 till the end and then from start to 200.

[Zakarie Ibar · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is just a copy-paste of the license's documentation, but what i liked is that most of the known licenses where collected into one book and also orginezed and arranged by there types which saved me some effort and time, so i didn't have any problem with copy-paste of licenses documentation and every license had some brief explanation from the author.