Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing I say is legal advice. Use my advice at your own risk. It may be wrong.
If you are building a website and you do NOT redistribute the website's software (e.g. allow people to run the website on their own server), you can incorporate code from most open source licenses. Here are some specifics:
* The MIT, BSD, PSF, and Apache licenses are fantastic for proprietary websites, even if you do redistribute the website's software. (In which case you may need to include a disclaimer, copyright notice, and/or copy of the license, depending on the details of that specific license.)
* Libraries licensed under the AGPL may NOT be used for proprietary websites. The GPL's language is unclear about proprietary websites, so it would be best to avoid using GPL libraries altogether or to consult a lawyer.
* You may use LGPL libraries, but if you modify them then you may have to release the code that you modified. (Due to the aforementioned uncertainty.) Again, I am not certain about this, but I have seen that claimed before.
Feel free to correct me. I would be happy to hear that I am incorrect regarding the GPL.
Comments
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing I say is legal advice. Use my advice at your own risk. It may be wrong.
If you are building a website and you do NOT redistribute the website's software (e.g. allow people to run the website on their own server), you can incorporate code from most open source licenses. Here are some specifics:
* The MIT, BSD, PSF, and Apache licenses are fantastic for proprietary websites, even if you do redistribute the website's software. (In which case you may need to include a disclaimer, copyright notice, and/or copy of the license, depending on the details of that specific license.)
* Libraries licensed under the AGPL may NOT be used for proprietary websites. The GPL's language is unclear about proprietary websites, so it would be best to avoid using GPL libraries altogether or to consult a lawyer.
* You may use LGPL libraries, but if you modify them then you may have to release the code that you modified. (Due to the aforementioned uncertainty.) Again, I am not certain about this, but I have seen that claimed before.
Feel free to correct me. I would be happy to hear that I am incorrect regarding the GPL.
Edit: I was incorrect regarding the GPL. Please see http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/07/the-gpl-and-softwa...