| The term Open Source is usually covered by a variety of languages. While many think that open source leaves you code/software without protection, there are many licenses that ensure that this does not happen. Here are the top eight of those licenses. |  |
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works. It is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free software for all its users.
2. MIT License
This license is issues by the Open Source Initiative. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation with global scope formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.
3. Apache License
This open source license is granted by the Apache Software Foundation and is one of the most opted for licenses in the world today. The Apache Software Foundation uses various licenses to distribute software and documentation, to accept regular contributions from individuals and corporations, and to accept larger grants of existing software products. The 2.0 version of the Apache License was approved by the ASF in 2004.
4. BSD License 2.0 (3-clause, New or Revised) License
This license provides three clauses,
- Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
- Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
- Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
5. Artistic License (Perl)
This is the open source license that is commonly used for licensing packages, with the best example being that of the Perl programming language.
6. GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
This is another license issued by the Free Software Foundation. This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates the terms and conditions of version 3 of the GNU General Public License, supplemented by some additional permissions.
7. Code Project Open License 1.02
The Code Project Open License (CPOL) is intended to provide developers who choose to share their code with a license that protects them and provides users of their code with a clear statement regarding how the code can be used.
8. Eclipse Public License (EPL)
This is the open source license issued by the Eclipse Foundation for its software.
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