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So I have been looking for a while for a License which permits basically everything but gives me credit for the original work, I have had a look at the ISC, BSM, zLib and GPL license but am not sure if I understand them correctly. In short I want a license which:

  • Gives me credit for the original work.
  • Does not hold me liable for any damages, indirectly or directly.
  • Is provided as-is and comes with no warranty.
  • Allows modification of the original source code/binary.
  • Allows the sale of modified and unmodified source code/binary.
  • Allows redistribution of any kind, even under different licenses.

In short, you are free to do as you like with my code.
I want my code to be open source too, so open-source licenses are fine.

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Of the many permissive licenses the ISC or MIT is one of the only that fits all you criteria. In particular Allows redistribution of any kind, even under different licenses. which translate in explicit legal terms as "sublicense":

[...] to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software [...]

Few other licenses have this spelled out explicitly. In particular the BSD (2 or 3 clauses) do not have an explicit sublicensing permission (though the opinion of many is that it is implied).

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  • Note that they are likely other candidates, but this is the most common and most popular one.
    – Philippe Ombredanne
    Jan 2, 2017 at 0:28
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    ^ and choosing the most common appropriate option is a good idea, because there's much more chance your users will already be familiar with it
    – Tim Malone
    Jan 2, 2017 at 5:53
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What do you think about the BSD Licence? Or the MIT Licence?

MIT:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

see https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

The "New BSD License" or "Modified BSD License":

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

  3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

see https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses for an explanations of all the BSD licenses.

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    I do not know where you got your BSD text from, but this is not what is considered a bona fide BSD these days. This is at best some variant on the old BSD original with its infamous advertizing clause. Can you post the links?
    – Philippe Ombredanne
    Jan 2, 2017 at 0:04
  • Actually this is looks like an old bsd original from the UC circa 1990.... enterprise.dejacode.com/license_library/Demo/… not a current bsd at all...
    – Philippe Ombredanne
    Jan 2, 2017 at 0:21
  • Sorry, I added the "New BSD License". Thanks!
    – svalsesia
    Jan 2, 2017 at 8:43
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    The MIT license seems to be the one for me, thanks :)
    – J Tanzanite
    Jan 3, 2017 at 4:35
  • If the license doesn't have a license version and the text has ever changed, I probably would never use it.
    – vhs
    May 29, 2017 at 5:55

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