Apache License
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Apache License (Apache Software License previous to version 2.0) is a free software / open source license authored by The Apache Software Foundation (ASF). All software produced by the ASF or any of its projects or subjects is licensed according to the terms of the Apache License. Some non-ASF software is licensed using the Apache License as well. The Apache License (versions 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0) require preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer, but it is not a copyleft license - it allows use and distribution of the source code in both open source and closed source software.
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Apache License 1.0
This is the original Apache License which applies only to older versions of Apache packages (such as version 1.2 of the Web server).
Apache License 1.1
The 1.1 version of the Apache License was approved by the ASF in 2000: The primary change from the 1.0 license is in the 'advertising clause' (section 3 of the 1.0 license); derived products are no longer required to include attribution in their advertising materials, but only in their documentation.
Apache License 2.0
The ASF approved an update to the Apache License in January, 2004. The stated goals of the license included making the license easier for non-ASF projects to use, improving compatibility with GPL-based software, allowing the license to be included by reference instead of listed in every file, clarifying the license on contributions, and requiring a patent license on contributions that necessarily infringe a contributor's own patents.
What does it mean for me (for Apache license 2.0)
You may download for free, use, modify the code, keep modifications secret, and sell your modifications.
Using Apache licensed code does not mean that all your code became licensed too and it does not require your software to be open-source.
All you must do is include some messages informing of the fact that you used licensed code.
There are 4 types of text messages you must include:
- Two files that must be put at the top dir of the
release:
- LICENSE - a copy of the Apache license [1]. It only means that part of your code use this license, and not that all your code is under this license.
- NOTICE - A "notice" text document which includes a notice about you using Apache licensed code and the names of the libraries and their developers. You can add other (your) work notes, if you wish.
- in every licensed file:
- do not delete any original copyright/patents lines, but you are free to add your own lines if you wish.
- in every licensed file you have changed
- add a notification that you have made changes to that file.
GPL compatibility issue
The Free Software Foundation considers all versions of the Apache License incompatible with the Version 2 of the GNU General Public License. About version 2.0 of the Apache License, they say "The Apache Software License is incompatible with the GPL because it has a specific requirement that is not in the GPL: it has certain patent termination cases that the GPL does not require. (We don't think those patent termination cases are inherently a bad idea, but nonetheless they are incompatible with the GNU GPL.)" [2]
The Apache Software Foundation is still trying to make its own determination about whether the Apache License 2.0 is compatible with the GPL as quoted here.
The first draft of Version 3 of the GPL includes a provision (Section 7e, in draft 2: 7b) which allows it to be compatible with licenses that include patent retaliation clauses, including the Apache License.
Selected programs released under an Apache License
- Apache Ant: Java build tool
- Apache Axis: SOAP implementation
- Apache HTTP Server along with some of its modules
- Apache Tomcat: Java servlet and JSP container
- Apache Xindice: database server
- AxKit: XML application server
- Bonjour: ZeroConf implementation
- Byte Code Engineering Library: library for analyzing, editing and producing bytecodes found in Java .class files.
- Geronimo Application Server: J2EE implementation
- Google Web Toolkit: A toolkit to build AJAX apps in Java
- launchd: service management framework
- Lucene: full text search engine
- Jini: A network architecture for distributed systems
- JXTA: peer-to-peer framework
- SpamAssassin: spam mail filter
- Xalan: XSLT processor
- Xerces: XML parser
Over 1000 non-ASF projects located at SourceForge are using the Apache License.
External links
| Free software Portal |
- Apache Licenses
Categories: Open source licenses | Free software licenses