open source
<philosophy, legal> A method and philosophy for software licensing and
distribution designed to encourage use and improvement of software written by
volunteers by ensuring that anyone can copy the source code and modify it
freely.
The term "open source" is now more widely used than the earlier term "free
software" (promoted by the Free Software Foundation) but has broadly the same
meaning - free of distribution restrictions, not necessarily free of charge.
There are various open source licenses available. Programmers can choose an
appropriate license to use when distributing their programs.
The Open Source Initiative promotes the Open Source Definition.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar. was a seminal paper describing the open
source phenomenon.
Open Sources - O'Reilly book with full text online.
Articles from ZDNet.
(1999-12-29)
Nearby terms:
Open Shortest-Path First « Open Shortest-Path First
Interior Gateway Protocol « Open Software Foundation
« open source
» Open Source Definition » Open Source Initiative »
Open source license
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