Where can I find an authoritative overview of open source licences?

Question

Book, website, or whitepaper.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

OSI approved licenses: the OSI approves licenses for them to be called "open source". You can find all of them on their site, which probably is the most authoritative source. Another nice resource is GNUs view on licenses, as they have more strict standards.

Answer 2

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html

http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License

Answer 3

Open Source Licensing by Lawrence Rosen. It's free electronically and available in hardcopy. A very good overview of open source licensing in plain english from a lawyer who knows the subject.

One thing I like about the book is the way he divides licenses up into "reciprocal licenses" (GPL, MPL, CPL) and "non-reciprocal licenses" (MIT, BSD, AFL). He takes this high-level categorization approach in other areas as well. The mental model he provides was quite helpful for me as I waded through the sea of available licenses.

His analysis of GPL/LGPL and the subject of "linking" should be must-reading for anyone thinking about going with a GNU license.