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Hosting a project on code.google with an Creative Commons licence


I have a project which was made under the Creative Commons licence (Attribution-NonCommercial) Now I would like to upload my code to code.google.com since I have other project living there.

When I create a new project it asks me which opensource licence I want to choose. Choices available are:

  • apache license 2.0
  • artistic license/gpl
  • eclipse public license 1.0
  • GNU general public licence v2
  • GNU general public licence v3
  • GNU lesser general public license
  • MIT licence
  • mozilla public license 1.1
  • New BSD license
  • "other open source"

When I Select "other open source" there is a link to OSI-approved licenses which takes me to another list of licenses. (link text)

In all these lists the creative commons license is not mentioned while, interestingly enough, the content of the website itself (www.opensource.org) seems to be licensed by a creative commons license.

My question is this:

What license type should I choose in my code.google project in order to "select" creative commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial)?


Solution

  • Creative Commons licences are not normally used for code. They're used for other works, like photos, music, documentation (hence its use on opensource.org), etc.

    There are some Creative Commons licences that are very similar to open source licenses, but Attribution-NonCommercial would not be considered open source. In particular, NonComercial violates sections 1 and/or 6 of the The Open Source Definition:

    1. Free Redistribution

      The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

    2. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

      The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.

    (#2 is actually #6, but markdown keeps renumbering it.)