4 ms·
Isn't all public-domain software automatically open source though?
by remram 4y ago
Isn't all public-domain software automatically open source though?
- danuker 4y agoIt is. But very rarely do people publish software under the public domain. Most are under conditional licenses like MIT/BSD/GPL.
- NikolaNovak 4y agoI don't think that's a full subset. Can't a developer release a binary of their software or make it available as public domain SaaS, without it being any kind of open source?
- danuker 4y agoYou are right. I wasn't considering binaries released to the public domain. In that case the source is not available. As for SaaS, what is in public domain? The output of the public server? There is no public domain software runnable or compilable by a third party.
- jkaplowitz 4y agoTrue, but there is one major prominent exception: SQLite. The author of such programs as djbdns and qmail also eventually released those under the public domain, but SQLite is under that status while still being actively developed and widely used.
- LarryMullins 4y agoNot necessarily, it's possible that somebody could release a software binary as public domain, while keeping the code private.
- mch82 4y agoIt seems CC0 may have simplified this now. The issue used to be that software enters the public domain after copyright expires & different countries interpret that different ways, which can become complicated without an explicit license document. “Using CC0 for Public Domain Software” https://creativecommons.org/2011/04/15/using-cc0-for-public-domain-software/ https://creativecommons.org/2011/04/15/using-cc0-for-public-... “CC0 FAQ” https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ#May_I_apply_CC0_to_computer_software.3F_If_so.2C_is_there_a_recommended_implementation.3F https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ#May_I_apply_CC...