Session: The Most Powerful File in Your Codebase
Open source software has, over the past fifty years or so, become a major force behind innovation. The role it has played is complete with plenty of social and economic implications. While there’s no denying the positive impact that open source has had on computing, collaboration, and democratization of virtually every industry it has touched, we often forget that the impact and reach of these improvements is largely possible only because of licensing. In this session, we’ll shine the spotlight on the humble and often overlooked LICENSE file in an open source project. Attendees will get a crash course in copyright law and its relationship to open source software development. We’ll highlight the key provisions that an open source project’s license should include. Then we’ll look at some of the most widely adopted open source licenses and compare the privileges those licenses grant and the limitations they impose on folks who want to use, modify, and distribute the code in a project. Finally, we’ll discuss a few practical tips for ensuring your project’s license helps you work toward the long-term vision you have for your project and its impact.
