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My software release repository requires an open-source license. What can I use? What do I need to know about licenses? [137]

By Office of Science Quality and Integrity

The software developer needs to have an understanding of the repository’s open source licensing requirements; several licensing options may be considered. [Read more]

The software developer needs to have an understanding of the repository’s open source licensing requirements; however, the following information is useful to consider.

  • When an official license declaration is required or appropriate to include, the Creative Commons CC0 license may be used (currently CC0 1.0). This assumes the software is either completely original or includes software that also uses the CC0 license.
  • "MIT/X11" is an option when governing jurisdictions (such as those outside the United States) do not recognize the public domain dedication.
  • Another option is the unlicense (unlicense.org).