I started out with the Creative Common’s Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. I wanted an open license, but still wanted to get some name recognition.

However, I think that the GNU Public License (GPLv3) is a better fit. I want to keep the software open and feel that the GPL offers stronger protections and a better chance of eventually making money.

I do worry that it might affect adoption: at my previous company, we had a blanket “No GPL” policy. I am thinking about ways to get around that without giving all rights away. My current thought is to have to do dual licensing, with a parallel commercial license. Perhaps at minimal/no cost for smaller companies.

One side effect is that I am not going to accept code contributions without some sort of contributor covenant that allows for the commercial license.

RSS feedSubscribe