Open Source Licence

Open-source software is released with its source code — the human-readable instructions the programmers wrote — available to anyone who receives it. You can read how the program works, change it and build a better version, rather than only running the finished product.

Because the code is available, open-source projects are often built collaboratively. Programmers in different schools, charities and companies can fix bugs and add features, and firms may pay developers to work on a project many organisations rely on, so it can grow faster than one team could manage alone.

The licence sets conditions

An open-source licence normally lets you download, use, amend and redistribute the software without paying, but free download is not the whole story. The licence is a legal agreement and may set conditions on how you use or share it. For example, it might require you to keep the original author's name in the code, or say that if you redistribute a modified version you must release it under the same open-source licence.

Support may not be provided: with no company obliged to answer your questions, you rely on forums, documentation or your own IT team. You gain freedom to adapt the software, but you take on more responsibility.

For instance, a youth football club could take an open-source fixture generator, change the code to show pitch numbers and share its improved version with other clubs. It pays nothing to download the software, but it must follow the licence's rules when sharing the changed code, and no one will answer a support call.

The defining feature

The defining feature of an open-source licence is access to the source code and the freedom to modify it, not simply that it costs nothing. Some software that is free to download has closed source code, and some paid software comes with its source code; the licence, not the price, decides. Open-source software is still protected by copyright and still has a licence: the licence grants permissions rather than giving up ownership.