Help with licensing an open source project

Question

Hi,

I have developed an application that I would like to release as an open source project. In addition to my own code, I am using the following libraries:

• Log4Net - Apache 2.0 License
• NHibernate - LGPL
• NVelocity - Apache 2.0 License
• StructureMap - Apache 2.0 License
• ASP.NET MVC - MS-PL?

I'm quite happy for people to do what they want with the application but want to ensure that I still own the copyright to any parts that I wrote (in case I wish to release a commercial version) and that the comments in the original source code (stating that I wrote it) must be kept - just for a bit of publicity if you will.

So I was thinking of releasing this under the Apache 2.0 license or MS-PL. Will either of these meet my requirements?

Thanks, Ben

Answer 1

You could consider dual-licensing, releasing it under an open source license in case the code is used for an open source project, and a private license in case it's used for commercial use.

Edit: As John Milikin says, you'll always retain copyright unless it's explicitly released (eg, "I release this work into the public domain"). This is valid for most countries.

BSD license requires users to keep the copyright notice, but allows them to close the source and use it in a commercial way. I don't know if this is compatible with dual licensing.

These links may come handy in this case:

• http://developer.kde.org/documentation/licensing/licenses_summary.html
• http://www.newmediarights.org/open_source/new_media_rights_open_source_licensing_guide

Answer 2

Like @Fernando said, dual licensing is preferred in this scenario. The GPL typically goes well in dual licensing scenarios, since it's the most restrictive open source license, it really keeps users at bay, which is really what you want if you want to make a buck off it in some cases. However, this is just opinion, take it as such.

Answer 3

I'm quite happy for people to do what they want with the application but want to ensure that I still own the copyright to any parts that I wrote (in case I wish to release a commercial version)

Assuming you live in the US, you'll always retain copyright unless it's explicitly released (eg, "I release this work into the public domain").

and that the comments in the original source code (stating that I wrote it) must be kept - just for a bit of publicity if you will.

This'll be more troublesome -- comments are usually considered part of the work, so if you require certain parts to be unchanged ("invariant") you may have to write a custom license.

Almost all open-source licenses, such as the X11 license, include instructions that the copyright notices are to be retained. If you're OK with not having attribution embedded in the code itself, all you have to do is include a license.txt with your name in it.