Definition: open source

Search dictionary for

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10) 

open source

   <philosophy, legal> A method and philosophy for software
   licensing and distribution designed to encourage use and
   improvement of software written by volunteers by ensuring that
   anyone can copy the source code and modify it freely.

   The term "open source" is now more widely used than the
   earlier term "free software" (promoted by the Free Software
   Foundation) but has broadly the same meaning - free of
   distribution restrictions, not necessarily free of charge.

   There are various open source licenses available.
   Programmers can choose an appropriate license to use when
   distributing their programs.

   The Open Source Initiative promotes the Open Source
   Definition.

   The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
   was a seminal paper describing the open source phenomenon.

   Open Sources - O'Reilly book with full text online.

   Articles from ZDNet.

   (1999-12-29)

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) 

open source n. [common; also adj. `open-source'] Term coined in March
   1998 following the Mozilla release to describe software distributed in
   source under licenses guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify,
   and redistribute, the code. The intent was to be able to sell the
   hackers' ways of doing software to industry and the mainstream by
   avoiding the negative connotations (to suits) of the term "free
   software". For discussion of the follow-on tactics and their
   consequences, see the Open Source Initiative (http://www.opensource.org)
   site.