Questions tagged [free-software]
The free-software tag has no usage guidance.
45 questions
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Strategy for offering a library both a single-header and as a header + compiled implementation
I am maintaining a FOSS library which, for the sake of discussion, consists of a small .h file and a larger .c file (plus build-related files, see below)
I've been requested to offer this library as a ...
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0
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1
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171
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How do companies ensure that a commercial license for their Framework is used?
I was wondering how does a Company make sure that a Commercial License was purchased for a Framework they are providing?
For Example Qt is a Framework for C++ and it can be downloaded and used ...
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1
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0
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58
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Data lake architecture / design when have only few TB of data, but want to use certain Hadoop-like components (sqoop, data cataloging, and gov)?
Currently have situation between having not much data (mid single-digit to low double-digit TBs (not per data set mind you, but the average total amount)), but desiring tools similar to those that ...
-1
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1
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How exactly does someone make money from free software? And how do programs compete with websites?
I always wanted to create software but was not really into websites.I see that popular programs(such as skype) don't make as much money as popular websites(such as facebook,twitter etc.).
Is this ...
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4
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Microsoft or Open Source? [closed]
Why do some companies prefer private Microsoft solutions when in the majority of cases there are open source solutions or free software for them? What does Microsoft offer that the open sourece or ...
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31
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3
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Why is UML not used in most free software (e.g. on Linux)?
I'm trying to understand why UML is not used in most free software projects. For example, my Debian/Linux system has probably more than ten thousand free software packages, and I cannot name even one ...
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3
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Is wrapping a command-line tool (wget, curl) a "good" practice?
I have a background in .NET, specifically in C# WPF and ASP.Net, but now I am going to use more golang and C.
Consider the following situation as an example:
The software I should program should ...
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1
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Does using the Telegram API mandate releasing the source code under a GPL license? [closed]
Telegram has provided API, through which programmers can connect to telegram servers, enabling them to implement clients for the messaging system.
They also have released some open source client ...
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6
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5
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16k
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Is it actually possible (practically) to sell Open Source software? [duplicate]
Open source software can be used for commercial purposes. It is said that
You can even sell Open Source software.
How does this work?
If I sell my open-source product (copyleft or permissive), ...
user155884
2
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1
answer
128
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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
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How and when had the CC BY license become GNU GPL-compatible?
I believed that Creative Commons Attribution License, even being non-copyleft one, was always and still is incompatible with GNU GPL because of multiple minor issues; which, however, were gradually ...
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2
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Is it necessary to apply to anywhere other than to add a file as LICENSE.txt for open source or free software licensing? [duplicate]
I am going to continue a game engine project I didn't engage in for a long time.I amatourly writed some core libraries using OpenGL with C++. Because I am not that into programming in general, I am ...
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1
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6k
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Using GPL’d software in a proprietary web application
We are developing website that we charge money from members to join it as membership annual cost, so, we decided to put a plan for the second stage so we are choosing now the load balancer that we ...
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1
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994
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Software trial: limited time or limited functionality? [closed]
I am currently developing my first serious piece of software in C#. It is a good learning experience so far.
My software is basically a task scheduling tool with some advanced features and ...
- 121
2
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1
answer
212
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Editing Copyright line in Apache2 license.txt
I wish to publish my program under Apache2 license. I have added the "APPENDIX" part of the license text to the top portion of my source.txt file and edited the copyright year and name.
But when ...
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1
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Deferred Open Source licensing
Are there established models for releasing an initially proprietary piece of software under FLOSS conditions after a defined period or a certain point of time? The main problem here is that all ...
- 107
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4
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If I try to monetize free software, what could possibly prevent someone from forking that software and creating a proprietary version? [duplicate]
I've only recently begun to learn about the tensions between free and proprietary software, and I've been very confused by the way that free software can make money.
I understand that free software ...
- 183
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3
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210
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License that grants the initial author all rights of derived/modified work?
Please note that I do not want to argue about the moral aspect of this question. I know that there are probably many different concerns.
I have been researching for a special license that could be ...
- 133
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2
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2k
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License: free to use but not free to modify or redistribute
I am releasing an application at no cost, but I am not granting users the right to modify or redistribute the code. How should I call this?
I initially used the term "free license", but on second ...
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8
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710
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Isn't GPL enough to make a software free as in free speech?
Background
I have read people rebutting the fact that a certain software is free as in free speech, even when it is licensed under GPL.
Some say Java isn't free because to obtain a professional ...
- 39.5k
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2
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335
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Sourcecode license: free for personal use and modification but no public distibution
For one of my apps, I want to make the source code “open source” so that others might adapt the code to their personal needs or even contribute improvements, but I don’t want anybody else to publish “...
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2
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1
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592
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How to license my closed source & freeware (donation ware) - using creative commons?
After doing a bit of research about licensing my free software, I reached this:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
how do I include ...
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Anonymous software license
I am aware of some of the problems of the concept of "releasing a work to the public domain" (as mentioned here and here; I haven't listened to this specific discussion yet). IANAL, but the main ...
- 329
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License for available for free, but closed source web app [closed]
Anyone know of a free license that offers the user the right to use the software freely, but not modify it or share it?
In other words, it is closed source, but it's free. And since it's gonna be a ...
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3
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77k
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Is Java free/open source or not?
On November 13, 2006, Sun released much of Java as free and open source software, (FOSS), under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). On May 8, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all ...
- 39.5k
3
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3
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300
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Give open-source developers a free license for my commercial software?
I am creating a software package that will be useful to programmers, engineers and scientists. List price will be in the region of $1,000 -- way beyond the budget of most open-source developers, ...
- 403
3
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2
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602
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Any suggestions how it would be good to promote software in a small company ? [closed]
Ok, I know if I am Red hat or other giant and offer some support etc. I can be profitable, in fact, Red Hat is doing quite well.
However, what about a small company where I create a small program. e....
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6
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My software is hosted on a "bad" website. Can I do anything about it?
Edit: Thanks for all of the answers, guys! I think I'm just going to include some kind of text on my webpage telling users to only download from the links provided. The thing is that there have been ...
- 521
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602
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Can I re-license Academic Free License code under 2-Clause BSD / ITC?
I want to fork a piece of code licensed under the Academic Free License. For the project, it would be preferable to re-license it under the ISC License or the 2-Clause BSD license, which are ...
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1k
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How should I implement my chosen software license?
I have always kind of wondered, but never took my time to actually ask these questions regarding licensing. Most of these questions are presumably pretty basic, but I have no idea what I'm dealing ...
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7
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Are there open source alternatives to Bitbucket, Github, Kiln, and similar DVCS browsing and management tools? [closed]
I am aware of several tools/services that provide DVCS browsing and management such as Bitbucket, Github, Kiln, SCM-Manager and Rhodecode.
However, the use case I am considering is one such that:
...
- 1,016
12
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1
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3k
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Is Java free software? [duplicate]
Free software as defined by FSF.
Are its standard libraries free/open source?
Is its implementation free/open source? Which parts of it are not free/open source?
Any other relevant information.
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2
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262
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If I want my client program to be free software, do I also have to release the server software as free software?
Imagine I've written a game and I want to make it free software. Am I also required to make the game server software free software because the game uses it to connect to other players to play against?
...
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11
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863
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How should one handle "free projects"? Should one accept them or not?
Ok, as a software engineer, I feel that my skills are valuable in other contexts, for instance, a friend came to me and asked me to setup a website for her research and I did it for free. At first I ...
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8
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How do I (quickly) let people know that software I am providing for free is not abandon-ware?
As an independent, individual programmer:
How do I let people very quickly know that I have not abandoned the software I've written and given away for free? That I am putting in the effort required ...
- 13.3k
15
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4
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546
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How can I get free artwork for my free software? [closed]
So many free software projects have beautiful art, specially websites, that I wonder where the coders meet their artists. Is there some place to ask for this besides the local art majors' schoolboard? ...
- 261
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5
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Minimum Software for Learning C#, ASP.NET, Winforms
What is the minimum software list that one should be looking at for learning C#, ASP.NET, WinForms.
I do have a system which has Windows 2003 installed in it.
I am looking at something like WAMP ...
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8
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2k
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Why freeware (closed-source) instead of open-source?
I'm wondering why some people release software as freeware, yet they don't release the source code. Why is that? I can think of some reasons, yet most of them don't make very much sense. Why would you ...
- 11.2k
3
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1
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How well do free-to-open-source-projects policies work in practice?
In comparison with an open source license and requesting donations, is a free-for-open-source-projects (or free for non-commercial developers) closed source and otherwise commercial project likely to ...
user8709
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3
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Is it ok to use VS Express edition to create small utilities at work?
I am developer working mainly in C# who has now been assigned to a Data Migration project. (Sad story, I know. But that's for another day). We are currently creating column-to-column mapping between ...
- 1,397
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License for freeware but closed source application
I have developed a simple application which I want to put release for free but I'm not planning releasing the source code. I want the application to be freely available but I do not want anyone to ...
- 768
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6
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What are the common revenue models for free-software companies?
People have to eat, even developers of 'free as in beer' software. So I wonder, what are some of the common revenue models that are used by such companies when they aren't directly selling the ...
- 28.2k
16
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7
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975
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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 ...
- 3,367
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Is using a lot of free third party libraries a good thing? [closed]
For your proprietary projects at work?
Problems I can imagine are: more dlls (can be a problem when for example you have to include a big DLL but you only need few functions in that library), a lot ...
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6
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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 ...
- 1,172