Open-source Licensing 101 - alavi.me (alavi.me)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by somegeek@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev

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The basics about types of open-source software licenses, their differences, how to choose a license etc.

I see a lot of programmers that really don't know much about licensing and just default to MIT.
To be fair to them, it's a pretty boring and headache enducing topic, but I tried to distill it here.

Hope it helps.

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[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 5 points 2 weeks ago

I think all you need is a scale from big tech cuck to big tech hater to put the licenses on. MIT all the way on the fuck side and AGPL all the way on the hater side. Would make it pretty easy to choose a license.

[-] somegeek@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago

Not really.

The legal complications and details really matter depending on your usecase, what are you trying to do, which libraries and software are you going to use, how is your product will be used etc.

It's more than just a matter of taste and personal philosophies.

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2026

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