The following is a list of software licenses which Free Software Foundation (FSF) has approved as complying with The Free Software Definition. They are thus, according to FSF, free software licenses.

Name Versions Is copyleft? GPL compatible? Used by Notes
Academic Free License 3.1, 2.1 No No
Affero General Public License 1 Yes No Version 3 of the AGPL is compatible with the GPL version 3.
GNU Affero General Public License 3 Yes Yes - GPLv3 Compatible with GPL version 3 only.
Apache License 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 No Yes - GPLv3 Apache Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the Apache License are not GPL compatible
Apple Public Source License 2 No No Apple's Darwin operating system
Arphic Public License No
Artistic License 2.0 Yes Perl According to the FSF only version 2 of the Artistic License is compatible with the GPL
Berkeley Database License Yes Berkeley DB Also known as the Sleepycat Software Product License.
Boost Software License No Yes
CeCILL 2 Yes Yes GPL compatible since version 2
Clarified Artistic License Yes NcFTP
Common Development and Distribution License Yes No Sun's OpenSolaris
Common Public License 1.0 No
Cryptix General License No Yes
EU DataGrid Software License No Yes
Eclipse Public License 1.0 Yes No
eCos license 2.0 Yes GPL compatible since version 2.
Eiffel Forum License 2 No Yes GPL compatible since version 2.
Expat License No Yes Expat Also known as the MIT License
GNU General Public License 1, 2, 3 Yes Yes GNU, Linux kernel, MySQL
GNU Lesser General Public License 2, 2.1, 3 Yes Yes glibc and many other libraries, themes and icons
IBM Public License 1.0 No
Intel Open Source License (OSI) Yes As published by OSI.
Interbase Public License 1.0 No
ISC license (Internet Systems Consortium license) 2 No Yes BIND, OpenBSD ISC License listed as GPL-compatible by the FSF.
Jabber Open Source License 1.0 No This license has been voluntarily retired from OSI.
LaTeX Project Public License 1.2, 1.3a No LaTeX
GNAT Modified General Public License Yes GNAT runtime toolkit
License of Netscape Javascript Yes
Vim 6.1 and later Yes Vim
zlib License Yes zlib Also known as the libpng license.
License of the iMatix Standard Function Library Yes
License of xinetd Yes No xinetd
Lucent Public License 1.02 No Plan 9 Also known as the Plan 9 License.
MIT License No Yes X.org Also known as the X11 License.
Modified BSD license No Yes FreeBSD and OpenBSD
Mozilla Public License (MPL) Yes (limited) No Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox
Netizen Open Source License 1.0 No
Netscape Public License No
Nokia Open Source License No
Open Software License 1.0  ? No
OpenLDAP License 2.3, 2.7 Yes OpenLDAP GPL compatible since version 2.7
OpenSSL license No OpenSSL
Original BSD license No No NetBSD
PHP License 3.0 No PHP
Phorum License 2.0 No
Public domain - No Yes SQLite The public domain isn't truly a license, per se. The definition of what is in the public domain varies from country to country, as is whether or not the author of a work can place his/her work voluntarily in the public domain. If a work is in the public domain, (usually) anyone can use, copy, modify, redistribute, or otherwise exploit the work for any purpose as there is no copyright at all.
Python Software Foundation License 1.6a2, 1.6b1 - 2.0/2.1, 2.0.1/2.1.1 No Yes Python This license replaces the original Python License which was not GPL compatible[1]
Q Public License 1.0 No No Qt It was used until Qt 3.0, as Trolltech toolkit version 4.0 was released under GPL (version 2 or 3).
Standard ML of New Jersey Copyright License No Yes
Sun Industry Standards Source License 1.0 No Sun Grid Engine Sun has voluntarily retired this license.
Sun Public License No This license seems now to have been "dropped" by Sun in favor of the new CDDL license, which is also derived from the MPL.
Condor Public License No
Ruby License Yes Ruby
Vita Nuova Liberal Source License Yes No
W3C Software Notice and License Yes libwww
X11 License No Yes X.org This is the FSF's preferred name for the MIT License.
WTFPL 2 No Yes
XFree86 1.1 License 1.1 No No XFree86 This license is GPL 3 compatible. The XFree86 Project contests GPL 2 incompatibility.[2]
Zend License 2.0 No No Parts of PHP
Zope Public License 1, 2.0 No Yes Zope GPL compatible since version 2.0

See also

• Comparison of free software licenses
• Free software licenses
• Open source license
• List of software licenses

References

External links

• FSF's list of free software licenses