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Apache License

  • Permissive free software License
  • Introduced by Apache Software Foundation (ASF) in 1995
  • It is compatible with the GNU GPL LIcense. It means that code under GPLv3 and Apache License 2.0 can be combined, as long as the resulting software is licensed under the GPLv3.
  • Offers a number of permissions and protections.
  • IIt is being adopted quite frequently
  • 18.2% of GitHub projects were licensed under Apache 2.0.

Sample license contains all terms and conditions

apache2.0

Requirements for Apache LIcense

  • The original copyright notice
  • A copy of the license itself
  • If applicable, a statement of any significant changes made to the original code
  • A copy of the NOTICE file with attribution notes (if the original library has one)

Can's of APACHE LICENSE

  • Companies can sell proprietary software that includes licensed code to the customers.
  • ALteration of code is permitted - Developer's can modify the code as per their requirements.
  • Sublicense - Company can add more stronger license under there software.
  • Warranties - Warranty can be placed by the users in open source code to the licensed software.

Kubernetes, one of the most popular open source software options for container management, scaling, and deployment, is licensed under Apache 2.0. Swift, JavaScript-based PDF rendering platform PDF.js, and machine learning library TensorFlow these all are also licensed under APACHE LICENSE.

Template of Apache License

Copyright [yyyy][name of copyright owner]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Template for reference

apache template

Specifications of the Apache License 2.0:

  • Software may be freely used, reproduced, modified, distributed or sold.
  • Software can be combined with other products and distributed or sold as packages.
  • Products derived or modified from licensed software can be distributed under other licenses.
  • Apache software cannot be redistributed without attribution.
  • A copy of the license must be redistributed along with any Apache software.
  • External contributions to the software are released under the ASF terms unless explicitly specified otherwise.

Growth of Apache License over time

growth