Academic Free License

2024-05-28T15:45:09Z

2A0C:5BC0:40:2E32:FC67:4360:DF35:A5CD:

{{short description|Permissive free software license}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox software license
| name = Academic Free License
| author = [[Lawrence E. Rosen]]
| version = 1.2, 2.1, 3.0
| copyright = Lawrence E. Rosen
| date = 2002
| spdx = AFL-3.0<br />AFL-2.1<br />AFL-2.0<br />AFL-1.2<br />AFL-1.1
| OSI approved = Yes<ref name="osi" />
| Debian approved = ?
| Free Software = Yes<ref name="fsf" />
| GPL compatible = No<ref name="fsf" />
| copyleft = No<ref name="fsf" />
| linking = Yes
}}
The '''Academic Free License''' ('''AFL''') is a [[permissive free software license]] written in 2002 by [[Lawrence E. Rosen]], a former [[general counsel]] of the [[Open Source Initiative]] (OSI).

The license grants similar rights to the [[BSD license|BSD]], [[MIT license|MIT]], [[University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License|UoI/NCSA]] and [[Apache License|Apache]] licenses{{snd}} licenses allowing the software to be made [[proprietary software|proprietary]]{{snd}} but was written to correct perceived problems with those licenses. The AFL:

*makes clear what software is being licensed by including a statement following the software's copyright notice;
*includes a complete copyright grant to the software;
*contains a complete patent grant to the software;
*makes clear that no trademark rights are granted to the licensor's trademarks;
*warrants that the licensor either owns the copyright or is distributing the software under a license;
*is itself copyrighted, with the right granted to copy and distribute without modification.

The [[Free Software Foundation]] consider all AFL versions up to and including 3.0 as [[License compatibility|incompatible]] with the [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]].<ref name="fsf">{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html |title=Various Licenses and Comments about Them |access-date=October 20, 2011 |last=Stallman |first=Richard |publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]] }}</ref> though [[Eric S. Raymond]] (a co-founder of the OSI) contends that AFL 3.0 is GPL compatible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/Licensing-HOWTO.html#id2853340|title=Licensing HOWTO |access-date=May 15, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100402084554/http://www.catb.org/~esr/Licensing-HOWTO.html| archive-date= 2 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> In late 2002, an OSI working draft considered it a "best practice" license.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/Licensing-HOWTO.html |title=Licensing HOWTO |access-date=July 7, 2007 |last=Raymond |first=Eric |date=November 9, 2002 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070704015946/http://www.catb.org/~esr/Licensing-HOWTO.html| archive-date= 4 July 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> In mid-2006, however, the OSI's [[License proliferation|License Proliferation]] Committee found it "redundant with more popular licenses",<ref name="osi">{{cite web|url=http://opensource.org/licenses/AFL-3.0 |title=Academic Free License 3.0 |access-date=January 18, 2016 |publisher=[[Open Source Initiative]]}}</ref> specifically version 2 of the [[Apache Software License]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
*[[License proliferation]]
*[[Open Software License]] – similar, but reciprocal license by the same author
*[[:Category:Software using the Academic Free License|Software using the Academic Free License (category)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://opensource.org/licenses/AFL-3.0 Text of the Academic Free License v3.0]
*[http://www.rosenlaw.com/html/GL14.pdf Allocation of the Risk by Lawrence Rosen] ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]]) – reasoning behind the Academic Free License

{{FOSS}}

[[Category:Free and open-source software licenses]]
[[Category:Permissive software licenses]]

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Academic Free License