how to decide on which license to use?

Question

I have a google app engine project whose source code I want to put into some source control repository. Thought of putting it into code.google.com . When I tried, I was prompted to select a source code license. I am new to this. Can someone please tell me how to decide on which license to select?

Mine is a very simple project and I am fine with people using it in anyway. Which license would you recommend?

Pointers to resources that would help me in learning more about the various license would be highly helpful.

Answer 1

Note: the following is a simplification and my understanding only. For detailed or reliable advice contact a lawyer.

There are three branches of licenses (from more to less restrictive):

GPL: If you use use it and want to distribute the result, you have to make the result GPL as well

LGPL: If change it and want to distribute the result, you have to make the result GPL or LGPL

Apache and many others: You have to give credit to the original author, the license and identify your changes. But hardly any restrictions on use and distributions. Of course they licenses vary in the details

Make up your mind how restricive you want to be.

I personally prefer the last one both as a user and as an author of open source code

Answer 2

From what you said I'd choose MIT. Anyone can do anything with attribution. You can always relicense it later. It doesnt sound like you're planning to sell it, so opening up your license means maybe a company will use your product and contract you to support it.

Also, try GitHub hosting, you have option to make your repo private in the future.