A free software license is a software license which grants recipients extensive rights to modify and redistribute, which would otherwise be prohibited by copyright law. To qualify as a free software license, the license must grant the rights described in The Free Software Definition or one of the similar definitions based on this.
Read more about Free Software License: History, FSF-approved "free Software" Licenses, OSI-approved "open Source" Licenses, Accepted Restrictions, Permissive Versus Copyleft Opinions, Debian, Controversial Borderline Cases
Famous quotes containing the words free and/or license:
“The angels yawning in an empty heaven;
Alternate shows of dynamite and rain;
And choosing forced on free will: fire or ice.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“It would much conduce to the public benefit, if, instead of discouraging free-thinking, there was erected in the midst of this free country a dianoetic academy, or seminary for free-thinkers, provided with retired chambers, and galleries, and shady walks and groves, where, after seven years spent in silence and meditation, a man might commence a genuine free-thinker, and from that time forward, have license to think what he pleased, and a badge to distinguish him from counterfeits.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)