Could someone roughly explain the differences between the common open source licenses out there (Apache, GPL, MIT, etc.) and any restrictions they may have?<p>I'm not working on any specific project that would require professional legal advice. I just want a basic understanding of the differences between the most common licenses and how they can generally affect or restrict projects.<p>What is the most open and unrestricted license? What licenses have restrictions I should be aware of? etc. etc. Thanks
It would take quite a bit of writing to do all of that. And there are some significant subtleties in terms of the differences between seemingly similar licenses.<p>What I'd recommend, is that you read the book <i>Open Source Licensing</i>[1] and / or the book <i>Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing</i>[2]. Both are freely available online.<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://oreilly.com/openbook/osfreesoft/book/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://oreilly.com/openbook/osfreesoft/book/index.html</a>
You might also want to check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licenses" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_lic...</a>