Copyleft software licenses are considered protective or reciprocal, as contrasted with permissive free software licenses. Copyleft license legal definition of copyleft license by. Common development and distribution license version 1. Our purpose in writing this paper is to show how new capabilities in the free and open source software stack enable highly regulated and sensitive industrial concerns to take advantage of the full spectrum of modern copyleft software, including code under the gnu general public license, version 3 gplv3, and to manage their obligations under those licenses in ways that are commercially. Contributor version means the combination of the original software, prior. The main distinction among software licenses is between free software and proprietary software. When distributing the software, include this license header notice in each file and include the license file at nbbuildlicensescddlgpl2cp. Describes the ability for you to grantextend a license to the software. The majority of the netbeans ide code is available under a dual license consisting of the common development and distribution license cddl v1.
Mishi choudhary, from the software freedom law center, explained as much in her talk zfs licensing. I came to this page via a person asking about the dual licensing of sun now oracle software under both gpl and cddl. The spdx license list is a list of commonly found licenses and exceptions used in free and open source and other collaborative software or documentation. Cddllicensed works with the gpllicensed works, see the fsfs statement. Understanding copyleft licenses at a high level unlocks a world of new software, from linux to wordpress to libreoffice and more permissive and copyleft. Copyleft licenses are licenses that require redistributed copies and derivative works to be under the same license. The purpose of the spdx license list is to enable easy and efficient identification of such licenses and exceptions in an spdx document, in source files or elsewhere. A typical method to combine cddl and gpl is to let a gpld program use. This means a module covered by the gpl and a module covered by the cddl cannot legally be linked together. If your project is currently using a dual licensing scheme involving the eclipse public license v1. Contributor version means the combination of the original software, prior modifications used by a contributor if any, and the modifications made by that particular contributor. The cddlv1 is considered both a free software and an open source license, and is a weak copyleft license. The eclipse codebase now available under the epl was formerly licensed under the.
So far in our open source software license faq series, we have covered your top 10 questions about the gpl, the apache 2. Spdx license list software package data exchange spdx. Files that you write that use software that is cddllicensed via import or include can be licensed as you wish. The common development and distribution license cddl is a free and opensource software license, 3 produced by sun microsystems, based on the mozilla public license mpl. The gnu free documentation license fdlis a form of copyleft intended for use on a manual, textbook or other document to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifications, either commercially or noncommercially. Gpl violations related to combining zfs and linux software. Eclipse public license epl the eclipse public license epl is an open source license developed by the eclipse foundation. The cddl is compatible with most opensource and proprietary licenses, save the gpl.
Understanding which license to choose for your code. Common development and distribution license cddl version 1. The cddl requires that the source code of modifications to the cddl code be redistributed under its terms. Copyleft licenses require derivative works to be licensed under the same license. Files licensed under the cddl can be combined with files licensed under other licenses, whether open source or proprietary. Netbeans distributions include additional components under separate licenses identified in the. It has a weak perfile copyleft like version 1 of the mozilla public license which makes it incompatible with the gnu gpl. Contributor means each individual or entity that creates or contributes to the creation of modifications. I guess a complete set of source files is considered as the same or slightly less work as a program compiled from that. The current cddl is version 2, and its a spin on the mozilla public license. Such licenses are usually called either non copyleft or permissive. Common development and distribution license cddl the license is originally based on the mozilla public license v.
A copyleft license is a license that grants the permission to freely use, modify, and redistribute the covered intellectual propertybut only if the original license remains intact, both for the. Nevertheless, until they do, since gplincompatible licenses are the. This is a lax, permissive free software license, compatible with the gnu gpl. A lot of the stuff you find on mss open source site, codeplex, is mspl licensed. It includes limited copyleft measures, and measures that allow anyone to edit, modify and use code with appropriate attribution in any work, commercial, or otherwise. Common development and distribution license cddl, version 1.
The cddl license is perfile copyleft, which means you only have to distribute source code for the files which were cddl licensed. Copyleft licenses include gpl, lgpl, eclipse public license, mozilla public license, and the common development and distribution license cddl. If a software recipient modifies the original source code, all distributions of that code must disclose the original and modified code. A copyleft license, like the gnu gpl, the mpl or the eclipse license, requires that you give downthestream users of the program the same rights that you yourself received. A permissive software license, sometimes also called bsdlike or bsdstyle license, is a free software license with minimal requirements about how the software can be redistributed. The linux kernel, cddl and related issues software. Common development and distribution license cddl the cddl is an open source license created by sun microsystems acquired by oracle.
The common development and distribution license cddl and gnu public license v. The cddl is a license that does not try to enforce restrictions that would not stand. Among the most important works so licensed by sun was opensolaris, a version of its solaris operating system now no longer actively. The cddl was created by sun microsystems later acquired by oracle and used for distribution of the companys major products, such as opensolaris and netbeans.
The cddl enforces license rules up to the file level, the gpl enforces license rules up to the work level but a binary compiled from such a source is more than any of both, because the code is linked against libraries. This is a weak copyleft license used by sun microsystems that includes. What are the actions to take when using software licensed. A quick guide to open source licenses elegant themes blog.
The common development and distribution license cddl is a free and opensource software license, produced by sun microsystems, based on the mozilla public license mpl. Nevertheless, neither cddlv1 nor gplv2 permits combination of. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project. Free software come with license terms that give you as defined by.
There are many other licenses, but almost all open source software is under copyleft or permissive. This short guide gives a brief introduction to copyleft licenses, an important kind of open software license. The combination results in a copyleft free software license that is incompatible with the gnu gpl. A very fast tutorial on open source licenses contact and. When an open source license is not copyleft, that means software released under that license can be used as part of programs distributed under other licenses, including proprietary nonopensource licenses. You can distribute binaries under a proprietary license, as long as original and modified source code under cddl is made available. Open source and copyleft licenses 2,673 words 18,152 characters common development and distribution license cddl version 1. Contributor means each individual or entity that creates or. Some free software licenses dont establish an obligation of licensing derivative work in the same terms of the original work license. Common development and distribution license cddl is a free and opensource software license, produced by sun microsystems, based on the mozilla public license mpl.
Asf 3rd party license policy the apache software foundation. Common development and distribution license wikipedia. Wikizero common development and distribution license. Software under the following licenses may be included in binary form within an apache product if the inclusion is appropriately labeled see above. For example, the bsd license is a non copyleft open source license. Top 10 common development and distribution license cddl. The cddl defines the boundary at the source file, so if you change one of the original files, you have to release that back. These are your weak copyleft licenses, copyleft meaning some part of the derived work also has to be released under the same license. Copyleft license means a software license that requires that information necessary for reproducing and modifying such software must be made available publicly to recipients of executable versions of such software see, e.
Legal repercussions of open source software licensing. Copyleft, distinguished from, is the practice of offering people the right to freely distribute copies and modified versions of a work with the stipulation that the same rights be preserved in derivative works created later. In fact, licenses are usually of such little interest that 85%of the projects on github fail to have one however, one aspect of licensing never fails to stir partisan responses. In other words, the code is free to use, to share and modify but any resultant works must be distributed under the same license. However gpl doesnt if the program is considered as a single work. What this means is that you are free to use the software under the terms of one license or the other, or as what most people seem to be doing carry on the dual licensing for downstream users. Most discussions of free software licenses bore listeners. Common development and distribution license wikimili. Cddl is a free software license, but sadly a gplincompatible one. Common development and distribution license cddl the common development and distribution license cddl is a copyleft license with its roots in the mozilla public license mpl. In 2005 the open source initiative approved the license. It is an opensource software licensed under the terms of the common development and distribution license cddl. The epl is more complicated and the most copyleft license in your list. Software can become incompatible with secondary licenses in one of two ways.
Examples include the gnu allpermissive license, mit license, bsd licenses, apple public source license and apache license. As of 2016, the most popular free software license is the permissive mit license. Quick summary this is a weak copyleft license used by sun microsystems that includes explicit patent grants. Its a copyleft license, so any software that uses any gpl component has to be open source, even if just a tiny percentage. Finally, we can consider the most subtle class of gplincompatibility, in which we find zfss license, the common development and distribution license, version 1 cddlv1. Various licenses and comments about them gnu project free.