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  • Permissive – do anything
    • MIT – short and simple
    • ISC (OpenBSD) – further shortened equivalent
    • BSD – some versions require to include the disclaimer
    • Apache 2.0 – requires notice of changes, grants licence to patents unless litigating and mentions preservation of trademark rights
  • Weak copyleft – file (library) scope
    • MPL 2.0 – simple, allows static linking and licence variants with additional terms
    • LGPL 2.1 – cleaned text of LGPL 2.0, allows dynamic linking without enforcing copyleft
    • LGPL 3.0 – grants use of patents; the end-user must be able to install a modified version – it prohibits closed devices, DRM or hardware encryption or patents retaliation; compatible with Apache2.0
  • Strong copyleft – project scope
    • GPL 2.0 – often used
    • GPL 3.0 – grants the use of patents, the end-user must be able to install modified software, compatible with Apache2.0
    • AGPL 3.0 (Affero) – network protective: external use of modified(!) code requires its availability – network use is a distribution of the software, modified source code must be available
  • Proprietary – typically restrict user rights and protect commercial interests of copyright owners

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  • Dual and multi-licences help in avoiding licence compatibility issues, which makes the use of components more flexible
  • You can choose a licence compatible with the one used for your software. But you cannot dual-licence license your software to match some components with one and others with another licence. Licences of all used components must be compatible with all of your licences!
  • “Or later”(often as “+”) licences variants just imply the applicability of later, possibly still non-existing, versions of these licences. This is sometimes implied unless you explicitly decline it.
  • Some licences include automatic relicensing (MPL 2.0, EUPL 1.2, CeCILL) – EUPL comes with the full and exhaustive list…

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Risks of

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licences

Risk mitigation against potentially harmful legal threats or behaviours by free-software licences

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