Licensing is an essential aspect of open source projects, as it determines how the software can be used, modified, and distributed. Here are some licensing options for the Helix project (https://github.com/helixml/helix/) with examples:
- MIT License The MIT License is a permissive license with minimal restrictions. It allows users to do almost anything with the software, including using, copying, modifying, merging, publishing, distributing, sublicensing, and/or selling copies of the Software, provided that the copyright notice and the permission notice are included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
Example:
Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holders]
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
Helix project uses the MIT License for some of its components, such as the Go Programming Language.
- Apache License 2.0 The Apache License 2.0 is another permissive license that allows users to freely use, modify, and distribute the software. It also includes an explicit patent grant.
Example:
Copyright [year] [copyright holders]
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
The Helix project uses the Apache License 2.0 for some of its components, such as Gorilla Router and Gorilla Websocket.
- GNU General Public License v2.0 The GNU General Public License v2.0 (GPLv2) is a copyleft license that requires any derivative work to be distributed under the same license terms. This ensures that the software and its derivatives remain open source.
Example:
Copyright (C) [year] [copyright holders]
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
The Helix project does not use the GPLv2, but it is a popular license in the open source community, used by projects like the Linux kernel and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
- PostgreSQL License The PostgreSQL License is a permissive license similar to the MIT License but with an additional requirement to include the original copyright notice and permission notice in all copies of the software.
Example:
Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holders]
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written
agreement is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice
and this permission notice appear in all copies, and that the name of
the above copyright owners not be used in advertising or publicity
without the specific, written permission of the copyright owners.
The Helix project uses the PostgreSQL License for its PostgreSQL dependency.
When choosing a license for your project, consider the project’s goals, the community you want to attract, and the compatibility with other projects you depend on. For more information on open source licensing, refer to the following resources:
