February 15, 2010
How Do You Make Software Open Source?
Hello Everyone,
I am an amateur programmer and I would like to make alot of my stuff open-source. How do I officially do that? Do I need to go through some legal channels to officially register it as open source, or do I need to simply say in my source code that I wish it to be open source?
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Comments on How Do You Make Software Open Source? »
Open source software is generally released under the GNU (General Public License). Obviously you need to provide people with your source code as well, so if you are using a language you need to compile then keep that in mind.
You add a license for it that you base on the open source ones… and package the source / binary / license together… no need to register with anyone.
You need to make sure the license terms say it’s open source and that the source must be made available to anyone who wants it… and that you are not supporting the software not guaranteeing it’s fitness for purpose or fitness for anything.
You could use the GNU license as a model… or the OSF one. Whichever fits your idea as to how you want to hand your creations to the big wide world.