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This page provides a comprehensive reference of all software licenses used by projects listed in awesome-selfhosted. Each license includes a link to its official SPDX (Software Package Data Exchange) specification.

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Understanding Software Licenses

Open source licenses define how software can be used, modified, and distributed. The licenses below are organized by type to help you understand their characteristics and requirements.
Permissive licenses have minimal restrictions on how software can be used and redistributed.

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MIT License

  • MIT - MIT License
  • Short and simple permissive license with minimal restrictions

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BSD Licenses

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ISC License

  • ISC - Internet Systems Consortium License
  • Functionally equivalent to MIT and BSD 2-Clause licenses

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Apache License

  • Apache-2.0 - Apache, Version 2.0
  • Permissive license with patent grant provisions

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Other Permissive Licenses

  • AAL - Attribution Assurance License
  • Artistic-2.0 - Artistic License Version 2.0
  • Zlib - Zlib/libpng License
Copyleft licenses require derivative works to be distributed under the same license terms.

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GNU General Public License (GPL)

  • GPL-1.0 - GNU General Public License 1.0
  • GPL-2.0 - GNU General Public License 2.0
  • GPL-3.0 - GNU General Public License 3.0

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GNU Affero General Public License

  • AGPL-3.0 - GNU Affero General Public License 3.0
  • Like GPL but requires source availability for network use

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GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

  • LGPL-2.1 - Lesser General Public License 2.1
  • LGPL-3.0 - Lesser General Public License 3.0
  • Allows linking with proprietary software
File-level copyleft license that allows mixing with proprietary code.
  • MPL-1.1 - Mozilla Public License Version 1.1
  • MPL-2.0 - Mozilla Public License
  • Weak copyleft - modifications must be open but can be combined with proprietary code
Business-friendly copyleft license.
  • EPL-1.0 - Eclipse Public License, Version 1.0
  • EPL-2.0 - Eclipse Public License, Version 2.0
Licenses primarily designed for creative works, but also used for software and documentation.
  • CC0-1.0 - Public Domain/Creative Common Zero 1.0
  • CC-BY-SA-3.0 - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
  • CC-BY-SA-4.0 - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
Software released into the public domain or with no restrictions.
Licenses developed for specific jurisdictions or international use.
  • EUPL-1.2 - European Union Public License 1.2
  • CECILL-B - CEA CNRS INRIA Logiciel Libre
Licenses created by corporations for their open source projects.
  • APSL-2.0 - Apple Public Source License, Version 2.0
  • CDDL-1.0 - Common Development and Distribution License
  • CPAL-1.0 - Common Public Attribution License Version 1.0
  • IPL-1.0 - IBM Public License
Licenses designed for specific use cases or communities.
  • CAL-1.0 - Cryptographic Autonomy License 1.0
  • ECL-2.0 - Educational Community License, Version 2.0
  • OSL-3.0 - Open Software License 3.0
  • Ruby - Ruby License
  • Sendmail - Sendmail License
  • ZPL-2.0 - Zope Public License 2.0

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