I\'m developing a suite of software tools that I need help with which is why I w

Question

I'm developing a suite of software tools that I need help with which is why I want to release my software open-source. People should be able to use and modify my code as they please while contributing to my project. Ultimately, the tools that I develop will require a paid commercial license, but may be free to those for non-commercial purposes. This software suite will consist mostly of website plug-ins. Other tools I develop open source be used for consulting.

What would you suggest as a license?

Explanation / Answer

Licensing some part of the code under open-source license means that this part will be always open-source. Then you can't control how the people will use it. If you choose copyleft license, you only can be sure that no one will be allowed to use this code for closed source projects. If you choose some permissive license - then everyone will be allowed to create whatever projects he wants based on the released code.

If you can keep all copyright for you (and this can be done only by additional agreement with the contributors) then you (and only you) can use this open source cpde for closed source projects. Also, later you can decide to stop releasing the new versions under open source license. (but not the already released versions) - in this case (if your project is really attractive) the project will be forked and all contributors will move to work on the open source fork.

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