Questions tagged [foss]
Free and Open Source Software
27
questions
-5
votes
1
answer
114
views
Is it legitimate to track down a library maintainer who has disappeared? [closed]
There's a public FOSS library available online, which has not seen any commits by its author for about 3 years. 2 years ago the maintainer added a README.md comment saying he's sorry for being ...
- 2,488
-3
votes
4
answers
379
views
How to break the vicious cycle of test-writing preceding an initial release?
I'm developing a FOSS library which I am pretty fond of. More specific details probably don't matter.
I've already "finished" a feature set sufficient for an initial release IMHO. However - some of ...
- 2,488
3
votes
2
answers
87
views
How can I consult users of my FOSS library about a design change idea?
I have a FOSS library made public through GitHub. It's not a big library, it doesn't have a community around it or anything like that - but it does get a few dozen unique clones a week.
Now, I'm ...
- 2,488
1
vote
3
answers
907
views
How to prevent unfair use of open source software licensed under Apache 2.0 [closed]
I have released many open source software under Apache 2.0, now I'm providing a SaaS using that software.
Basically, I need to prevent people just taking my software and just rebrand it to provide it ...
- 121
1
vote
0
answers
105
views
How should I approach documentation generation for my FOSS library? [closed]
I've published a small FOSS library (link below, but what it does is not very material to this question), on GitHub. It doesn't have releases yet, but it's quite usable and (sort of) tested.
Now, I ...
- 2,488
8
votes
3
answers
374
views
What are the options for licensing a code project with "license soup" in the sources?
I'm working on a software project which I intend to release as FOSS in some way. My code includes quite a few header/source files written by others:
Better Enums
A slightly modified GSL Lite
An ...
- 2,488
-1
votes
1
answer
324
views
Using a GNU GPL licensed component in a BSD licensed software [duplicate]
I am currently in process of writing a software application.
In this application, I use another software project which is licensed by GNU GPL. I have widely modified the GNU licensed component and ...
2
votes
1
answer
128
views
Working on Free Software [closed]
My main experience is with iOS, but I'd like to move into writing free and open source software instead. Are there many jobs out there that allow you to work on projects like this? I've looked on the ...
- 131
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Where to place 3rd party software license information? [closed]
After a user installs my application, where in the app's install directory should I place information regarding 3rd party software (e.g. FOSS) licenses? Should I just append it to my EULA? Is there ...
- 129
0
votes
2
answers
499
views
selling closed source commercial product in a virtualbox (GPL)
Can I sell a closed source commercial product inside a virtualbox VM?
This is extremely useful when you want to deliver server side software to users, and not mess in with different OS's (windows/osx)...
- 113
2
votes
2
answers
194
views
Properly licensing FOSS: text location
I have a few FOSS projects that I want to release under the BSD license, since I only wish to maintain the intellectual property of the code, that others will know I've been writing it.
I suppose all ...
- 123
3
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Professional Development: Finding that "pet project" to work on - then managing other commitments [closed]
At the moment, like a fair few of you I'd imagine, I spend at least 40 hours working on projects that use a specific set of technologies. Sometimes I'm doing maintenance, and have those technologies ...
- 868
1
vote
1
answer
363
views
Who gets source code access with agpl
After reading for what seems days on the specifics of GPLv3 and more specifically AGPLv3, I have one question as far as distributing and to whom.
If I create a web app (server and client) for a ...
- 121
4
votes
2
answers
169
views
Most appropriate OSS license for infrastructure code
I'm looking into potentially releasing some infrastructure code (related to automated builds and deployments) as OSS and I'm curious about how the various OSS licenses effect it.
Specifically, LGPL ...
- 249
6
votes
1
answer
788
views
Are there any FOSS operating systems available that conform to NASA's JPL coding standards? [closed]
I, like many others, have been completely enamored with the recent successful landing of Mar's Curiosity rover. After reading a couple of articles, and following a few links, I've found a couple C ...
- 541
0
votes
4
answers
1k
views
A completely free and open programming language [closed]
With Oracle vs Google trial, it seems that Java is not entirely Open and free (as free software) as I expected. Although there exists completely free/open JVM, it's hard to know what is a copyright ...
- 844
6
votes
3
answers
447
views
How should I go about re-releasing a GPL-licensed project?
A few months ago we found a library licensed under GPL that fit the bill for what we were looking to do at that time. We included it in our codebase and all was fine. Now, a few frantic months of ...
- 779
1
vote
2
answers
2k
views
Adding scripting capability to a .NET application
I already have a working implementation that adds scripting to an application. The application currently generates and compiles scripts from C# snippets (taken from different user provides ...
- 111
0
votes
2
answers
142
views
What licence for a FOSS that would sell packages on Mac and Windows but give them away on Linux?
The code should remains as open as possible, but I'm planning to sell it on Windows and Mac, and make free rmp/deb.
Does the licence even matter? It feels like I'm just selling the service of ...
- 311
1
vote
2
answers
185
views
FOSS Development: Who develops the OS-specific packages?
I have a couple of FOSS projects. They can be a bit of a pain to get running unless you've got dependencies in place already, which I figure is par for the course for FOSS projects.
We know that each ...
- 11
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Does there exist a decent monetary bounty system for open source software? [duplicate]
I personally would be willing to pay $10 to someone who can offer to make microphone drivers work with one of my laptops under Ubuntu 10.10. I thought that other users could contribute to the same ...
- 6,459
11
votes
8
answers
2k
views
free as in free beer
Some years ago (more precisely in 1998) the confusion english-speaking people start making with the term free when applied to software led some members of the free software foundation to create a new ...
- 213
10
votes
4
answers
918
views
How do I make money from my FOSS while staying anonymous?
Let's say that:
You have created a FOSS project that other people find useful, perhaps useful enough to donate to or pay for modifications to be done.
It is a perfectly legitimate and innocuous ...
- 876
8
votes
1
answer
207
views
Is there a graph with FOSS licenses detailing what can be linked with what?
I'm looking for a chart like this:
Basically something that tells you whether an app with a given license can be linked with a library of a given license.
Does such a thing exist?
- 710
17
votes
7
answers
961
views
How successful is GPL in reaching its goals? [closed]
There are, broadly, two types of FOSS licenses when it relates to commercial usage of the code - let's say the GPL-type and the BSD-type. The first is, broadly, restrictive about commercial usage (by ...
- 3,377
4
votes
2
answers
365
views
Licencing FOSS for profit
Some projects are available under restrictive FOSS licenses (GPL or AGPL, for example) which preclude them from being used in proprietary projects. The developers can then sell separate commercial ...
- 1,170
18
votes
6
answers
17k
views
Open Source but not Free Software (or vice versa) [closed]
The definition of "Free Software" from the Free Software Foundation:
“Free software” is a matter of
liberty, not price. To understand the
concept, you should think of “free” as
in “free ...
- 1,170