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I have coded a program (Java). It consists of two piece a Main Component and the Calculation Component.

Limitations for the Main Component:

  • closed source code
  • no commercial use
  • no allowed changes
  • People i allow to it use are the only one who can use it

Limitations for the Calculation Component:

  • Open Source
  • no commercial use
  • no allowed changes
  • People i allow to it use are the only one who can use it

So my questions are:

  1. Which licenses would be matching?
  2. Is it possible to change the license type after publishing the software?
  3. What would change from a license point of view if i would allow changes on the Calculation Component?
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  • 1
    Please ask one question at the time. I am moving to close this as three questions makes this too broad.
    – Free Radical
    Jul 18, 2015 at 9:46
  • 1
    I agree, this question as it is doesn't fit well on our site, but could be narrowed down.
    – overactor
    Jul 18, 2015 at 9:52
  • I need to put this out: This is a license-recommendation question, and by nature it will be broad. However, the question should have been closed as unclear what you are asking, as there is no information as to the nature of the existing data, and due to the inherently lack of information provided by the question author.
    – Zizouz212
    Jul 23, 2015 at 11:53

1 Answer 1

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The Open Source Definition demands:

  • No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor. (criteria 6)
    • That demands that the license doesn't impose restrictions on the usage. Your criteria 'no commercial use' conflicts with it. See also this question.
  • Derived Works. (criteria 3)
    • That demands, that the license allows everyone to change the code and redistribute the changes. Your criteria 'no allowed changes' conflicts with this.
  • No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups. (criteria 5)
    • Your criteria 'People I allow to it use are the only one who can use it' conflicts with it.

Your calculation component is therefore as proprietary as the main component. If you don't use an open source license, you can demand a lot of things in your license.

To answer your single questions:

Which licenses would be matching?

No open source license, as your demands conflict with the demands of open source.

Is it possible to change the license type after publishing the software?

Maybe, with some difficulties. See this question.

What would change from a license point of view if I would allow changes on the Calculation Component?

It would still not be open source, as two criteria are still conflicting, but it would be one step in the direction of open source.

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  • Thanks a lot :) Are there license templates for it (i mean for proprietary software licenses) ? Like GPL etc. from Open Source... Thanks for editing my post i am from germany ;)
    – Che Veyo
    Jul 18, 2015 at 10:26
  • @CheVeyo: I'm not aware of proprietary license templates. But you can look at the licenses of proprietary software distributed under similar terms you want. ... Und ich bin auch aus Deutschland. :-)
    – Mnementh
    Jul 18, 2015 at 10:30
  • Note that copyleft license depends on the copyright law, the terms of a (copyleft) license of a work does not apply to the copyright owner of the work. If you're the copyright owner, it is possible for you to discriminate who you license your software to. What non discrimination applies to, is to your customers that licenses your software, they're compelled by your license to distribute the source code to anyone who asks for them. This makes your discrimination fairly pointless, but due to how copyright works, you cannot violate your own license.
    – Lie Ryan
    Jul 18, 2015 at 11:25

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