Open Source Licenses

Originally published on: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:52:24 +0000

I'd like to take a moment and describe why I place a license-statement in most of the source files you find here.

My goals are pretty simple for most of the source that I will release:

• I want you to be able to use my source-code whether you're a business or whether you want to use if for personal computing.
• I want to disclaim liability for your use of any of the code.
• I want to retain my own rights to use the same code as I see fit.

Some have asked why I don't just omit the license or they've asked why I don't put the code into the public domain.

I've read a few articles on this subject and have found that the term public domain has different meanings in different countries. In fact, in some countries, you cannot place your code into the public domain just by stating it in the source. My omission of a license statement would then infer that I hold exclusive rights to the source in some countries.

Please refer to the commentary at Stack Overflow:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/219742/open-source-why-not-release-into-public-domain

I use the MIT / X11 license for most of the source here. It's a simple license that does not require you to release your own source under any conditions. I believe it to be simple and clear. I think it gets the point across that you can use the source that contains the MIT / X11 license as you see fit.

I apologize for the couple of dozen lines of comments that prefix most of the source files, but I believe them to be necessary so that everyone who wants to use the source can do so.

Unless otherwise noted, all code and text entries are Copyright ©2010 by James K. Lawless

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