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How do I find the open source license that is right for my project?

Asked 2010-02-20T18:16:45.537
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I am about to host my first open source project. I will be hosting it on codeplex where I can choose between the follwing licenses:

Apache License 2.0, Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), Eclipse Public License (EPL), GNU General Public License (GPL) v2, GNU Library General Public License (LGPL), Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL), Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL), Mozilla Public License 1.1 (MPL), New BSD License, and The MIT License

Now I am totally new to all this licensing stuff. Not only I do not know what license I should choose but also I don't really know what kind of rights I should grant and deny. Any help on the process of finding a license is appreciated. What kind of things need to be considered? What question should I be asking myself?

Also: Do I loose any rights when I put the code under any of those licenses? Do I need to adhere to the chosen license too?

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What rights should you grant or deny?

  • Are you comfortable with anyone using your program?
  • Are you comfortable with anyone modifying your program?
  • Are you comfortable with anyone selling your program?
  • Are you comfortable with anyone selling modifications of your program?
  • Are you comfortable with somebody selling your program as closed source?

This are questions you need to answer on your own.

BTW, in my opinion GPL v2 or later is a safe default choice. It is used by those that answer 'yes' to all but the last of my sample questions.

answered 2010-02-20T20:01:17.353

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