Licenses

A personal collection of common open-source license texts, kept verbatim from their official sources (SPDX) for drop-in use in new projects.

How to use

1. Pick the license that matches your goals (see the guide below).
2. Copy the corresponding LICENSE-* file into your new project, renaming it to LICENSE (or LICENSE.txt / COPYING, per project convention).
3. For licenses that contain placeholders (<year>, <copyright holder>, [yyyy] [name of copyright owner], etc.), fill them in.
4. Reference the license in your project metadata using its SPDX identifier — e.g. MIT, Apache-2.0.

Choosing a license

Quick rule of thumb:

• Just want people to use your code, no strings attached? → MIT or BSD-2-Clause
• Same, but you also want explicit patent protection? → Apache-2.0
• Want to force downstream code to stay open-source? → GPL-3.0
• Same, but for network/SaaS use too? → AGPL-3.0
• Library that should be linkable from closed-source apps? → LGPL-3.0 or MPL-2.0
• Want to dedicate your work to the public domain? → CC0-1.0, Unlicense, or 0BSD

Available licenses

Permissive

These let anyone use, modify, and redistribute your code — including in proprietary/closed-source products — as long as they preserve the copyright notice. Minimal obligations.

File	SPDX ID	Notes
LICENSE-MIT	MIT	Shortest and most popular permissive license. Great default.
LICENSE-Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0	Like MIT but with an explicit patent grant and contributor terms. Preferred for larger projects and corporate-backed code.
LICENSE-BSD-2-Clause	BSD-2-Clause	"Simplified BSD". Functionally equivalent to MIT.
LICENSE-BSD-3-Clause	BSD-3-Clause	Adds a no-endorsement clause: forks may not use the original author's name to promote derivatives.
LICENSE-ISC	ISC	Simplified MIT/BSD wording. Used by OpenBSD and the npm ecosystem.
LICENSE-BSL-1.0	BSL-1.0	Boost Software License. Permissive; notice not required for binary distributions.

Weak copyleft (file/library scope)

Modifications to the licensed files themselves must remain open, but you can combine the code with proprietary software.

File	SPDX ID	Notes
LICENSE-LGPL-3.0	LGPL-3.0	Lesser GPL. Lets proprietary apps link against an LGPL library. Modifications to the library itself must be released under LGPL.
LICENSE-MPL-2.0	MPL-2.0	Mozilla Public License. Copyleft applies file-by-file. GPL-compatible. Used by Firefox, Rust crates, Terraform (pre-1.6).

Strong copyleft

Any derivative work, when distributed, must be released under the same license with full source code available. Cannot be combined with proprietary code.

File	SPDX ID	Notes
LICENSE-GPL-2.0	GPL-2.0	GNU General Public License v2. Used by the Linux kernel, Git, Bash.
LICENSE-GPL-3.0	GPL-3.0	GPL v2 + explicit patent grant + anti-tivoization clause. Use unless you have a specific reason to stick with v2.
LICENSE-AGPL3	AGPL-3.0	GPL-3.0 + a "network use is distribution" clause. Triggers copyleft when users interact with the software over a network (SaaS).

Public-domain equivalent

For when you want to give up all rights and disclaim warranty.

File	SPDX ID	Notes
LICENSE-CC0-1.0	CC0-1.0	Creative Commons "No Rights Reserved". Legally robust public-domain dedication with a fallback license for jurisdictions that don't recognize it.
LICENSE-Unlicense	Unlicense	Short, plain-English public-domain dedication.
LICENSE-0BSD	0BSD	Zero-Clause BSD. Permissive without even an attribution requirement — effectively public domain with a warranty disclaimer.

Compatibility cheatsheet

• MIT, BSD-2/3-Clause, ISC, 0BSD, BSL-1.0 are compatible with everything.
• Apache-2.0 is one-way compatible with GPL-3.0 (Apache → GPL works, not the other way) and incompatible with GPL-2.0.
• MPL-2.0 is GPL-compatible (since v2.0).
• LGPL code can be linked from any license; modifications stay LGPL.
• GPL-2.0-only and Apache-2.0 cannot be combined. Use GPL-2.0-or-later if you want the option to upgrade.
• AGPL-3.0 is the strictest — many companies forbid its use internally.

Sources

All license texts are taken verbatim from the SPDX License List. When in doubt, the SPDX text is the canonical reference.

Disclaimer

This is a personal reference collection, not legal advice. For commercial or high-stakes projects, talk to a lawyer.