3 minute read

The right open source license is necessary to protect your intellectual property and an important factor in maintaining license compliance management. As well as this, open source licensing underpins the essence of open source values in facilitating open redistribution. The integration of license compliance management into your CI/CD pipeline is just another way of optimizing the efficiency of your software supply chain. The best license for you will be shaped by your reason for creating code and your goals for redistribution. Use our introductory guide to decide which is best for you. Licenses and legal terminology are that of a very different world than what developers are used to. Because of this, we have organised our guide into developer persona categories. Simply pick the Dev that aligns most closely with yourself to learn more.

Devs working within a community:

If you are collaborating with an existing community or project, the best option for you is to align with the community you are a part of by adopting the project’s existing license. This can be found under the ‘license’ or ‘copying’ file of a project. If this fails, simply contact the maintainers of your community for clarification. As the licensing decision has already been made for you, you can spend less time on legalities and more time on software innovation- lucky you.

Devs not looking to overcomplicate:

The MIT license is perfect for devs that want to keep things straightforward. It is relaxed in that redistribution requires little to no control criteria other than the continuation of copyright and licensing details. The material that falls under this license is able to be used for both commercial and private use, as long as a copy of the license and copyright notice is included in any instances of modification or distribution. However, when using this license you should be aware that limitation of liability is included. As well as this, there is no warranty provided with this license.

Devs that care about sharing improvements:

The GNU General Public License v3.0 allows you to copy, distribute and modify projects under the condition you note all modifications and dates of modification in the source files. All modifications made to GPL-license code must also be made available under the GPL with installation instructions for future devs. This license forbids users from sub-licensing, although it provides software that does have the right to run and distribute the code. Users should be aware that this license includes a limitation of liability, meaning that the owner cannot be charged for damages associated with code using this license.

We hope this quick read has shed some light on the world of license compliance management. Whilst it may be confusing at first, it is worth taking the time to pick the right license for you and your project to best publish your software and display your innovation. For more information on potential risks associated with license compliance, see our past blog: ‘How the wrong license can harm your business’.

Get in touch with a member of our team to learn more about how Meterian can help your business master License Compliance Management.