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I have a small utility library of useful stuff written in Java that I plan on re

ID: 639131 • Letter: I

Question

I have a small utility library of useful stuff written in Java that I plan on releasing open source. I've been wavering on what license to use. I quite like the BSD license, which is short and easy to understand, but I don't want/need the clause about including the disclaimer in their product's documentation. Considering just dropping that bit out.

Would the MIT license suit me better, then? It doesn't have the endorsement prohibition clause like the BSD one does, which is something I like about BSD's. Also, does MIT's clause about keeping the copyright notice on substantial portions of the software just refer to the source code, and not binary form or any documentation they produce?

From surveying other SO questions on the topic, I've seen a few people recommend the Apache license. Having a quick scan though it, it actually might do most of what I want really well, although even that amount of legalese makes my head hurt (particularly at 2:30AM when I should be in bed instead of on SO.) Thoughts?

Basically I want something that is:

easy to understand,
says you can use the code as you like, but keep my copyright and permission notice on the source code,
you don't need to put the name of me or my product or copyright notice etc. in any documentation, manuals, etc. that you produce,
don't try and use me or my product as a selling point for your product (not that my endorsement would count for much anyway!)
and covers my butt in a reasonable manner. :-)
EDIT: Wow, 30 minutes and already some good responses! In response:

I'd prefer not to "mix and match" if I can help it, and produce yet another open source license. Using a standard license makes it easier for all of us.

The butt covering comment is a bit tongue in cheek. The warranty disclaimer that all the licenses mentioned include is really all I'm talking about.

Explanation / Answer

The boost license looks like what you want, doesn't it?

Boost Software License - Version 1.0 - August 17th, 2003

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or organization obtaining a copy of the software and accompanying documentation covered by this license (the "Software") to use, reproduce, display, distribute, execute, and transmit the Software, and to prepare derivative works of the Software, and to permit third-parties to whom the Software is furnished to do so, all subject to the following:

The copyright notices in the Software and this entire statement, including the above license grant, this restriction and the following disclaimer, must be included in all copies of the Software, in whole or in part, and all derivative works of the Software, unless such copies or derivative works are solely in the form of machine-executable object code generated by a source language processor.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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