Apple Public Source License
Encyclopedia
The Apple Public Source License is the open source and free software license under which Apple's Darwin
operating system
was released. A free software and open source license was voluntarily adopted to further involve the community from which much of Darwin originated.
The first version of the Apple Public Source License was approved by the Open Source Initiative
(OSI). Version 2.0, released July 29, 2003 conforms to the Free Software Foundation
guidelines, and is also approved by the OSI. The Free Software Foundation
approved the Apple Public Source License 2.0 as a free software license and say it is acceptable for developers to work on projects that are already covered by this license. They recommend, however, that developers do not release new projects under this license, because the partial copyleft
is not compatible with the GNU General Public License
and allows linking with files released entirely as proprietary software
. The license does, however, require that if any derivatives from the original source are released externally, that the source be made available.
Many software releases from Apple have now been relicensed under the more liberal Apache License
, such as the Bonjour
Zeroconf
stack.
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
was released. A free software and open source license was voluntarily adopted to further involve the community from which much of Darwin originated.
The first version of the Apple Public Source License was approved by the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
(OSI). Version 2.0, released July 29, 2003 conforms to the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
guidelines, and is also approved by the OSI. The Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
approved the Apple Public Source License 2.0 as a free software license and say it is acceptable for developers to work on projects that are already covered by this license. They recommend, however, that developers do not release new projects under this license, because the partial copyleft
Copyleft
Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
is not compatible with the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
and allows linking with files released entirely as proprietary software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
. The license does, however, require that if any derivatives from the original source are released externally, that the source be made available.
Many software releases from Apple have now been relicensed under the more liberal Apache License
Apache License
The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer....
, such as the Bonjour
Bonjour (software)
In computing, Bonjour is Apple Inc.'s trade name for its implementation of Zeroconf, a group of technologies that includes service discovery, address assignment, and name resolution...
Zeroconf
Zeroconf
Zero configuration networking , is a set of techniques that automatically creates a usable Internet Protocol network without manual operator intervention or special configuration servers....
stack.