Academic Free License

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Academic Free License ( AFL ) is a permissive open source license that was written in 2002 by Lawrence E. Rosen , the chief advocate for the Open Source Initiative (OSI), and is currently in version 3.0. Previous versions were 1.2 and 2.1. The AFL is recognized by the OSI and the Free Software Foundation , but not GPL- compatible. Also, due to its freedom of movement, the AFL does not belong to the stricter copyleft licenses.

The AFL in relation to other licenses

The AFL grants similar rights as the BSD license , the MIT license , the University of Illinois / NCSA Open Source License or the Apache license , which allow software to be published in a proprietary manner. The AFL was written to address the following problems with these licenses:

  • The AFL makes it clear which software can be licensed through a copyright notice.
  • The AFL includes a complete copyright permit for the software.
  • The AFL grants an unlimited right of use for all patents for the software.
  • The AFL makes it clear that the author has not been granted any trademark rights for his product.
  • The AFL guarantees that the licensor is either the author or distributes the software under a suitable license.
  • The AFL itself is protected by copyright, but with the right for anyone to copy and distribute it without modification.

Compatibility and Recognition

The versions 1.2 and 2.1 of the AFL are not compatible with the GPL, the FSF is not considering recognizing the AFL 3.0 as compatible with the GPL, but Eric S. Raymond , a co-founder of the OSI, claims that the AFL is GPL compatible . In 2002, an OSI working draft designated the AFL as a model solution. In 2006, the OSI's License Proliferation Committee found the AFL to be redundant with more popular licenses, specifically version 2 of the Apache license .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Richard Stallman: Various Licenses and Comments about Them . Free Software Foundation . Retrieved July 7, 2007.
  2. ↑ Licensing HOWTO . Retrieved May 15, 2010.
  3. ↑ Eric Raymond: Licensing HOWTO . November 9, 2002. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
  4. ^ Report of License Proliferation Committee and draft FAQ . Open Source Initiative . July 31, 2006. Retrieved August 17, 2007.