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drewdevault.com

[mirror] blog and personal website of Drew DeVault git clone https://hacktivis.me/git/mirror/drewdevault.com.git

How-I-choose-a-license.gmi (1454B)


  1. This is how I choose a license for a new project. It is a reflection of my values and priorities and may not work for your needs.
  2. ## Choosing a license
  3. 1: Does it matter at all?
  4. YES => GOTO 2
  5. NO => Use WTFPL
  6. => https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/shit Example: shit
  7. 2: Do you want it to become ubiquitous, where anyone, including corporations, governments, literally anyone, would have no reservations about using it for any use-case, including making proprietary derivatives and selling them, or reusing the code in another project, proprietary or not?
  8. YES => GOTO 3
  9. NO => GOTO 4
  10. => https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/scdoc Example: scdoc
  11. 3: Is the copyright owned by a company who might have trademarks and patents and other such garbage?
  12. YES => Use Apache 2.0
  13. NO => Use MIT or BSD
  14. 4: Is it a program?
  15. YES => Use GPLv3
  16. NO => GOTO 5
  17. => https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/gmnisrv Example: gmnisrv
  18. 5: Is it a library?
  19. YES => GOTO 6
  20. NO => GOTO 7
  21. => https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/dowork Example: dowork
  22. 6: Do you want users to be able to vendor it (copy it into their code), or should they be required to install it and link to it to use it without the viral obligation?
  23. YES => Use MPL 2.0
  24. NO => Use LGPLv3
  25. 7: Is it a network service?
  26. YES => Use AGPLv3
  27. NO => GOTO 8
  28. => https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/sourcehut Example: sourcehut
  29. 8: Is it a creative work?
  30. YES => Use CC-BY-SA
  31. NO => Well then what is it?
  32. => https://drewdevault.com Example: My blog