Which Google Code license should I use?

open-source licensing
ripper234 picture ripper234 · Jul 4, 2009 · Viewed 10.9k times · Source

This is the first time I'm creating an open-source project, and I've decided (based on this question) to host it on Google Code. Now, I'm asked which of several open-source licenses I'd like to use. I'm not interested in digging into them to figure them out, so:

Which one should I pick?

Answer

user132748 picture user132748 · Jul 4, 2009

From what I understand, BSD, MIT, and Apache licenses all allow another person/company to use the source code in a closed-source, commercial project, as long as they provide acknowledgement. GPL requires that any project using the code will also be released as GPL. GPL will reduce the number of people who can legally use your code, but it helps to keep improvements in the public. Those are the most important differences in my opinion. Your opinion determines which one is best for your project.

(Edit: You really should read through the licenses, though, in case "what I understand" is incorrect.)

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