Last modified by chrisby on 2025/01/11 10:03

From version 2.77
edited by chrisby
on 2025/01/08 11:08
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To version 2.85
edited by chrisby
on 2025/01/08 11:18
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41 41  
42 42  The FSF sees several problems with permissive licenses:
43 43  
44 -* Permissive code allows vendors to include it in their proprietary products. Software that is partially open source does not necessarily make it more secure. For example, in a product that is 99% open source code, the remaining 1% proprietary portion may contain all the malicious code. This means that the partially open source product poses the same dangers as a 100% proprietary product. According to the FSF, only 100% open source code running on your own machine is a necessary condition for achieving freedom and security.
45 -* Another problem is that vendors can reuse permissive code without any obligation to share improvements. The vendor writes new proprietary or closed source code based on the open source code and keeps those improvements for himself. This means that the work of the open source community can be used for the vendor's financial benefit without anything being given back. Worse, because the proprietary product has improvements, it may outcompete the original open source project, reducing its impact and harming the open source ecosystem. Vendors can trick users in joining their proprietary, and as soon as the original project is technically left behind and users are dependent on the proprietary software, the vendors have the power to commercial their efforts uneethrough sharply increasing prices etc. This is called "proprietary capture" or "open core hijacking".
44 +* Permissive code allows vendors to include it in their proprietary products. Software that is partially open source does not necessarily make it more secure. For example, in a product that is 99% open source code, the remaining 1% proprietary portion may contain all the malicious code. This means that the partially open source product poses the same dangers as a 100% proprietary product. Only 100% open source code running on your own machine is a necessary condition for achieving freedom and security.
45 +* Another problem is that vendors can reuse permissive code without any obligation to share improvements. The vendor writes new proprietary or closed source code based on the open source code and keeps those improvements for himself. This means that the work of the open source community can be used for the vendor's financial benefit without anything being given back. Worse, because the proprietary product has improvements, it may outcompete the original open source project, reducing its impact and harming the open source ecosystem. Vendors can trick users into joining their proprietary software, and once the original project is technically left behind and users are dependent on the proprietary software, the vendors have the power to commercialize their efforts under their terms through sharply increasing prices, etc. A common term for this process is the "free-rider" problem.
46 46  * There is also the problem of fragmentation. Multiple vendors may each create their own proprietary product based on the same permissive code. Instead of collaborating and contributing back to the common core project, they are inefficiently duplicating their efforts.
47 47  
48 48  **Copyleft Licenses**
49 49  
50 -To address the problems with proprietary software, the FSF primarily promotes copyleft licenses, which require that any derivative works of the software be licensed under the same terms as the original code. The term "derivative work" is legally vague, but a common understanding is that it means a new work based on the original copyleft code that incorporates it at the source level. This ensures that when contributions are made to a copyleft project, or when copyleft code is directly reused in another project, the resulting work must be released under the same copyleft license. This prevents vendors from incorporating copyleft code into proprietary products, and ensures that any derivative works remain open source. In addition, copyleft licenses require that the source code be made available to users so that they can modify, build, and control the software themselves.
50 +To address the problems with proprietary software, the FSF primarily promotes copyleft licenses, which require that any derivative works of the software be licensed under the same terms as the original code. The term "derivative work" is legally somewhat vague, but a common understanding is that it means a new work based on the original copyleft code that incorporates it at the source level. This ensures that when contributions are made to a copyleft project, or when copyleft code is directly reused in another project, the resulting work must be released under the same copyleft license. This prevents vendors from incorporating copyleft code into proprietary products, and ensures that any derivative works remain open source. In addition, copyleft licenses require that the source code be made available to users so that they can modify, build, and control the software themselves.
51 51  
52 -**OSI Position**
52 +**License Preferences**
53 53  
54 -The OSI aims to maximize the contributions and impact of open source by being open to a variety of open source licenses. Permissive licenses have become very popular in recent years, especially in commercial contexts, but open source developers also choose copyleft licenses when they want to ensure that derivative works remain open and free.
54 +The OSI aims to maximize the contributions and impact of open source by being open to a variety of open source licenses, inclu. Permissive licenses have become very popular in recent years, especially in commercial contexts, but the OSI is open to choosing copyleft licenses if developers want to ensure that derivative works remain open and free. The FSF, on the other hand, tolerates all open source licenses, but has a strong preference for copyleft licenses, believing that all software should be protected in this way.
55 55  
56 56  **User Behavior**
57 57