Handbook for Operational Excellence

Licences

Licences

The choice of software licence determines how code can be shared, modified, and monetised. For organisations, a deep understanding of licence implications is essential to avoid legal risks (such as the unintended copyleft effect) and to protect their IP strategy.

This section analyses the most common open-source licences as well as modern hybrid models (such as BSL and Fair Source) and evaluates them in their strategic context.

Table of Contents

  • AGPL: The strictest copyleft licence for web services. Why the AGPL requires source code disclosure even for pure network access.
  • Apache 2.0: The enterprise-grade open source licence. How Apache 2.0 provides commercial certainty through explicit patent rights and permissive terms.
  • BSD: Maximum freedom for developers. Why BSD licences (and variants) often form the foundation of core internet infrastructure.
  • BSL and Fair Source: Between open source and commerce. How BSL and Fair Source allow companies to share code whilst limiting competitive use.
  • GPLv3: The manifesto of free software. How GPLv3 enshrines the copyleft effect and what organisations must consider when using it.
  • MIT: The world's most straightforward licence. Why the MIT licence has become the standard for modern JavaScript and web libraries.