Free software
Free Software, or more specifically, Libre software is a term for software that chooses to give the user more rights over what they can do with the software, and especially the source code of the software.[1] It does not mean that the software is free as in price, but rather it is free as in being able to modify, sell, and redistribute copies of the software.[2] The user's rights are guaranteed by the license they agree to when using the software or its source code.
The Source code is essentially the ingredients of the software run on the user's computer. Most closed source software do not share the ingredients or the steps required for making the software, whether that be for financial or patent reasons. This is called non-free or proprietary software. Proprietary software does not guarantee the user's rights, and most commonly have an End-user license agreement (EULA) which must be agreed to in order to use the software.
Unlike EULAs, free software licenses cannot easily be changed at random. This guards the user against the terms of the sale being changed after the sale or distribution of the software.
Types of free software licenses
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Identifying Free software licenses is simple, and can be categorized into a scale, where the left most point is most restrictive, and the right most point being most permissive. Even though permissive licenses gives the user the most rights as a software author and developer, it does not guarantee that it won't be used against them as an end user.
For example, the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL-2) states that all copies of the software must be under the same GPL-2 license,[3] while the BSD 3 clause license allows the distribution of BSD-3 code in proprietary programs.[4]
There are also source available licenses, which allows the user to read the source, but may not allow them to redistribute or modify it. These licenses are not considered free nor open, and should be considered as "most rights reserved".
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "What is Free Software?". GNU. Archived from the original on 9 Jul 2026. Retrieved 12 Jul 2026.
- ↑ "Selling Free Software". GNU. Archived from the original on 7 Jul 2026. Retrieved 12 Jul 2026.
- ↑ "GNU General Public License version 2". Open Source. Archived from the original on 4 Jul 2026. Retrieved 12 Jul 2026.
- ↑ "The 3-Clause BSD License". Open Source. Archived from the original on 3 Jul 2026. Retrieved 12 Jul 2026.