opensource.org

The Open Source Initiative

The Approved Licenses

For your convenience, we have collected here copies of the licenses approved by OSI. If you distribute your software under one of these licenses, you are permitted to say that your software is "OSI Certified Open Source Software."

The first four are the "classic" licenses most commonly used for open-source software before the Mozilla release in early 1998. The Mozilla Public License has since become widely used. Many other licenses have been submitted for review and approval by OSI. As you can see, the list of approved licenses is growing.

If you can, use one of the already-approved licenses for distributing your software. But be sure that you read and understand the license terms completely. We encourage you to select a license that is consistent with your business model. And consult with your own attorney, because OSI does not provide legal advice.

OSI has also established a mailing list to review licenses submitted to license-approval@opensource.org. To subscribe, send mail to license-discuss-subscribe@opensource.org. Unsubscribes go to license-discuss-unsubscribe@opensource.org. The usual -request address works as well.

opensource.org home page