Model Licening information
More will come soon--WikiSysop 11:46, 29 August 2008 (MDT)
Why should I license my source code?
The main goal of CSDMS is to offer a community-built and freely available suite of integrated, ever-improving software models and modules that predict the movement of fluids, and the flux (production, erosion, transport, and deposition) of sediment and solutes in landscapes and their sedimentary basins over a broad range of time and space scales.
Licensing software models and modules ensure you that once freely available made software models and modules are staying available for the community, even if others are 'upgrading' your code.
How to choose a software license?
CSDMS thoose to develop model couplers under the GPL version 2 license. The GPL v.2 license is widely used by free libre / open source software developers because the license:
- provides a better quid-pro-quo for developers
- establishes collaboration between people
- Protects developers work
- encourages increasing the amount of free software.
Using the GNU GPL will require that all the released improved versions be free software. This means you can avoid the risk of having to compete with a proprietary modified version of your own work.
And even if you don't like the GPL license, potential co-developers do, so your project is more likely to be successful if you accommodate them.
CSDMS suggested licenses
CSDMS urges program developers to chose GPL v2 or at least GPL v2 compatible licenses to make it possible to couple models with other models such that other people can use them. The next Free Software Foundation (FSF) approved licenses are GPL v2 compatible:
- Artistic License 2.0
- Berkeley Database License
- modified BSD license
- Boost Software License
- Cryptix General License
- Eiffel Forum License version2
- GNU Lesser General Public License
- Intel Open Source License
- ISC license
- MIT license
- Python Software Foundation License 2.0.1, 2.1.1 and newer
- W3C Software Notice and License
- zlib/libpng license
- Zope Public License version 2.0
For more information about licenses, see the external links below.
External links:
- http://rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm (Open Source Licensing book)
- http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ (list including information of all open source licenses)
