Choosing the Right License for Your Software

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Selecting the appropriate license for your software is crucial. Before choosing a license, determine the purpose of your software, whether it's for business, community, or personal use. The slash licenses page provides a detailed overview of different licenses, distinguishing between permissive and restrictive ones, helping you make an informed decision. Once you've picked a license, utilize tools like NPM's 'license' package to easily add the license to your application. Ensure to specify the chosen license in your project's package.json file for clarity and compliance.

Scott and CJ dive into the world of open source, breaking down its meaning, benefits, and the various types of licenses you’ll encounter. From permissive licenses like MIT and Apache 2.0 to copy-left licenses such as GNU GPLv3, they’ll help you choose and apply the right license for your project.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:54 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
- Sentry Open Source.
- Giving away $500,000 to open source projects.
01:56 What is open source?
03:19 This is not legal advice.
03:51 Source available ≠ open source.
- No Permission.
06:39 The benefits of open source.
- 07:26 Educational.
- 07:52 More Secure.
- 09:32 Community-oriented.
  - Scott’s Habit Path
11:29 Types of licenses.
- 12:09 Permissive licenses.
  - 12:26 MIT License.
  - 14:37 Apache 2.0 license.
- 15:31 Copy Left licenses.
  - 15:58 GNU GPLv3.
- 18:16 Copy Left + permissive.
  - 18:23 (Mozilla Public License) MPL.
- 19:31 Business licenses.
  - 19:35 Functional Source License.
  - 23:16 Companies using BUSL.
  - 24:41 Server Side Public License (SSPL).
26:56 Choosing and acknowledging licenses.
29:13 Applying a license to your directory.