Google Developers Blog: License Evolution and Hosting Projects on Code.Google.Com

Blog

License Evolution and Hosting Projects on Code.Google.Com

Friday, September 10, 2010

Nearly 6 years ago when we first started thinking about doing project hosting on code.google.com we noticed something particular about the other open source project hosting sites. They either accepted all Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved licenses, like Sourceforge, or they only accepted one, like the Free Software Foundation's Savannah project, which only accepted GPL'd projects.
In our day-to-day work looking after open source licensing, we lamented the proliferation of licenses and decided that we would split the difference and only offer a very limited subset of the approved OSI licenses choices to our users as a stand against the proliferation of the same. You see, we felt then and still feel now that the excessive number of open source licenses presents a problem for open source developers and those that adopt that software. Thus when we launched project hosting on code.google.com, we only launched with a small subset of licenses.

This was hardly a barrier to adoption. While there were some complaints from some corners, in the intervening 5+ years since then, we've grown to become one of the largest hosts while allowing that ethic behind license choice to persist.

What's changing and why change now?

We've added an option to the license selector to allow any project to use an OSI approved license. Simply select “other open source” and indicate in your LICENSING, COPYING or similar file which license you are using.

Public domain projects are still only allowed on a case by case basis, as true public domain projects are quite rare and, in some countries, impossible. We encourage those that want to truly ship public domain to look at how D. Richard Hipp does things around SQLite and emulate his style. Email google-code-hosting@googlegroups.com if you’d like to request that license be applied to your project.

(Please note: we will continue to hunt down and kill non-open source projects or other projects using Google Code as a generic file-hosting service.)

Why change now? The TL;DR version is that we think we've made our point and that this new way of doing things is a better fit to our goal of supporting open source software developers.

The longer form of the reason why is that we never really liked turning away projects that were under real, compatible licenses like the zlib or other permissive licenses, nor did we really like turning away projects under licenses that serve a truly new function, like the AGPL. We also think that there were inconsistencies in how we handled multi-licensed projects (for instance: a project that is under an Apache license, but has a zlib component.)

To rectify this, we decided to add an additional option to the license selector that would accommodate some flexibility around open source licenses. We hope you find it useful and look forward to seeing how you use the site!
By Chris DiBona, for the Project Hosting Team

Google

Labels: agpl , evolution , licenses , osi , project hosting , zlib

Labels

#freeandopen
#GooglePlay #AndroidDevStory #PlayStore #DeveloperConsole #StoreListingExperiments
#io12
#io13
#io14
#io15
#io16
#io17
#io2012
#io2013
#io2014
+1
20% project
3d
about.com
accelerator
accessibility
actions
actions on google
Administrative APIs
AdMob
adobe
Ads
adsense
advogato
AdWords
africa
agpl
AI
AIY
AIY Projects
AIYProjects
ajax
ajax apis
ajax search
ajax search books news apis
all for good
amarok
AMP
AMP Cache
analytics
android
Android Studio
Android Things
android wear
Announcement
apache
api
apis
apis console
apis explorer
apis. charts
app engine
app indexing
app indexing api
App Invites
apple
apps
apps script
area 120
Artificial Intelligence
asia
assistant
atom publishing protocol
Auth
authentication
authsub
awards
axsjax
barcodes
beacon
beacons
bespin
best practices
bigquery
Blockly
blogger
book search
books API
bootcamp
Brotli
browser
building ajax apps
business
buzz
c++
Cache
caja
caldav
calendar
camino
campfire one
caption
cardboard
CardDAV
cast
Certification
channel
chinese
chrome
chrome apps
chrome dev summit
chrome devtools
chrome experiment
chrome extensions
chrome os
chrome web store
chromecast
chromium
chronoscope
cifs
classes
classroom api
client libraries
closure tools
cloud
cloud datastore
cloud functions for firebase
cloud platform
cloud portability
cloud services
cloud sql
cloud storage
cms
CocoaPods
code for educators
code jam
code review
code-in
codeedu
codelabs
coffee with a googler
collada
color
commerce
community
competition
compression
compressorhead
computing heritage
conferences
contacts api
contest
contextual gadgets
conversations
couchdb
countdown to I/O 2012
courses
Crash Reporting
creative commons
cricket
crisis response
cryptography
css
css3
custom search
custom search api
danish linux forum
dart
Data Compression
datastore
design
devart
develop
developer
developer expert
Developer Keynote
developers
developers. meetup
devfest
devfest developer chrome maps social wave apps
DFP
discovery service
diversity
django
dns
docs
documentation
documents list api
dojo
doodles
dot net
doubleclick
dreamweaver
Drive
drupal
earn
earth
eclipse
eclipsecon
eddystone
education
email
EMEA
enterprise
Europe
event
events
evolution
execution api
extensions
Fabric
faster web
featured
feeds
finance
Firebase
Firebase Analytics
Firebase Cloud Messaging
Firebase Dynamic Links
firebug
firefox
firevox
fitness
font api
fosdem
freebsd
freenet
Fridaygram
fusion tables
G Suite
gadgets
Game Developers Conference
games
gcc
gci
GCP
GDA
gdata
GDC17
GDD
gdd07
gdd08
gdd09
GDD11
GDE
gdg
gdl
gdl weekly
gears
geo
geolocation
geoserver
getpaid
ghop
git
github
gmail
Gmail APIs
gnome
gnome women's summer outreach program
Go
goo.gl
Google
Google APIs
google apps
google apps api
google apps for your domain
google apps marketplace
google assistant
google assistant sdk
google buzz
google cast
google chart api
google checkout
google chrome
Google Cloud Messaging
Google Cloud Platform
google cloud storage
google code
google code project hosting
google code search
google code university
google compute engine
google data apis
google data protocol
google developer day
google developer days
google developers
Google Developers Academy
Google Developers Live
Google Developers site
Google Developers University Consortium
google docs
Google Docs API
google doctype
Google Drive
Google Drive SDK
google earth
google fit
Google Fonts
google friend connect
google gadgets
google gears
google grants
google health
Google I/O
Google Identity Platform
google io
google mashup editor
Google Noto fonts
Google Play
google play services
Google Science Fair
Google sheets
Google Sheets API
Google Slides
Google Slides API
Google Spreadsheets API
google storage
google summer of code
Google tech talk
google technoloy user groups
google tv
google visualization api
google wallet
Google Wave
google web elements
google web toolkit
google.org
google+
googlecast
googleio
googlenew
GooglePlay
googlewebelements googleio
GPE
GPT
green linux
grow
gsoc
GSuite
gtags
gtug
guest post
guice
gulp
GWSOP
gwt
gzip
hackathon
hacking
hackthon
hangouts
haproxy
hg
hibernate
howto
hpux
html
html5
I/O
I/O 17
I/O 2017
I/O Extended
I/O Live
ical
identity
ietf
ignite
igoogle
iguanas
iiw
Image Compression
image search
Imara
in-app payments
incubator
India
indie
internationalization
internet explorer
internet of things
interviews
IO17
IO2017
ios
iOS SDK
IoT
ipad
iphone
israel
Issue Tracker
jaiku
japanese
java
javascript
jetpack
joomla
joomladayus2007
joomladayusa
karaoke
KDE
KDE 4.0
kernel
kernel summit
keynote
khronos
kids
kids coding team
kml
korean
Krakow
labs
lanchpad
languages
latitude
launch
launchpad
launchpad studio
lca
Leadership
lessons
licenses
linux
linux foundation
linux summit
linux virtual server
linuxconf eu
localization
LoCo
london
mac
MacFuse
machine learning
Makers
malware
maps
maps apis
Marketplace
material
material components
material design
MDL
meetup
mercurial
MIT CSAIL
mobile
mobile sites
mobile speed
mobile UX
mod_pagespeed
Moderator
monetize
MOOC
mozilla
mylar
myspace
MySQL
mythtv
named
narratives
native ads
native client
nearby
netbsd
non-profit
nonsense
nosql
notifications
Noto Serif CJK
nss
O3D
oauth
OAuth playground
OAuth2
objective-c
OCaml
ocr
ODF
office hours
oha
OOXML
open data
open source
open source blog
open web
openajax alliance
opengl
openid
opensocial
openssh
openssl
oreilly
orkut
oscon
oscon2007
osi
oss devs
ossjam
osx
pactester
page speed
PageSpeed
palette
payments
performance
phone
photos
picasa
picasa web
places API
play services
playground
plone
plone sprint
podcast
polymer
Polymer Summit
portugal
posix
PowerMeter API
prediction api
preview
prizes
programming
Progressive Web App
project hosting
Project Loon
Project Tango
proximity
pubsubhubbub
PWA
py3k
python
python sprint
rails
random hacks of kindness
Rasberry Pi
reader
Remote Config
research
result snippets
Rewarded Ads
Rewarded Video Ads
rhino
Saatchi
salesforce
samba
sandbox
Santa Tracker
scalability
scholarship
Scratch
screencast
sdk
sdks
search
security
serif
service worker
sessions
Sheets API
shindig
shopping
Shoreline Amphitheatre
showcase
sidewiki
sign-in
silverstripe
sitemaps
sites api
sixapart
sketchup
Slides API
Smart Lock for Passwords
soap search api
soc
social
social graph
solaris
souders
spa2007
spdy
speakers
speed
speed tracer
standards
startup
startups
storage
Street View
student programs
students
stuff
subscribed links
subversion
summer of code
Sundar Pichai
SVG
sxsw
syndication
tasks API
Team Drives (new)
techmakers
templates
TensorFlow
TensorFlow Research Cloud
Test Lab
testing
themes
tool
tools
topp
training
tranparency
transit
translate
translation
tutorials
tv
ubiquitous computing
ubiquity
ubucon
ubuntu
Udacity
UI
unicode
unit test
Unity
Universal App Campaigns
unix
URLs
video
videos
Vim
virtual keyboard
virtual reality
visualization
VR
wattpad
Wearables
Weave
web animations api
web apps
web components
web designer
web exponents
web fonts
web performance
web platform docs
webfonts
webgl
webmaster
WebP
website optimizer
weekly roundup
WhiteHouse.gov
Who's at Google I/O
win
windows
windows programming
Winter of Code
Women Tech Makers
women techmakers
wtm
xauth
yahoo
youtube
zlib
zurich
ZXing

Company-wide

Official Google Blog
Public Policy Blog
Student Blog

Products

Google for Work Blog
Chrome Blog
Official Android Blog

Developers

Ads Developer Blog
Android Developers Blog
Developers Blog

Google
Privacy
Terms