Open Source license that requires giving credit in user's web site

Question

I have this small code library that I'm considering releasing into Open Source. I want to release it under something similar to MIT License, i.e. no significant restrictions, however I would like to require that if you use my library on your servers, you have to give me credit on your website.

Basically, I want a license which is to MIT License as AGPL is to GPL.

Does something like this exist, or do I have to write my own?

Or is this just a Really Bad Idea?

EDIT: I guess I should have left out the "write my own" part. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't want to pay one. I just thought it would be nice to be able to tell if someone's using my lib with a simple Google search.

Answer 1

Maybe Creative Commons Attribution licence?

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.

http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/

Answer 2

Look here :

http://www.opensource.org/licenses/category

and pleeeeeeeeeeease don't write your own!

From Aaron Digulla comment (Thank you Aaron):

It takes a lawyer a long time to write a license that will actually hold in court (and why would you want a license that doesn't?) Hundreds of people all over the world worked several MONTHS on GPL v3! – Aaron Digulla

On the other side :

When you work in a company and you will use opensource, you normally can choose among the licenses that are "approved" in the company :-).

a new license is normally a NO GO :-(

ATTENTION to Kodisha: From the cc-site:

Creative Commons licenses should not be used for software. We strongly encourage you to use one of the very good software licenses which are already available.

PS : see What Open Source License to choose?

Answer 3

It turns out that CC is not so great for software :(

CPAL is good alternative, because it has better definition of "source code" (which CC don't have)

it's based on Mozilla Public License, but it has Attribution . License is approved by OSI in 2007.

http://opensource.org/licenses/cpal_1.0

and here is example of license that facebook uses for FBOpen Platform.

http://developers.facebook.com/fbopen/cpal.html

Answer 4

Please remember: there was a good reason why MIT and BSD removed the requirement for attribution from their licenses.