License?

[Arjen]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a simple, short, no BS license for my N.A.N.Y. freeware/donationware application?

[mouser]

great question.  You might notice from my apps that i am license-ignorant.
I'd love to see someone with some knowledge of open source licenses and closed-source freeware licenses posts some suggestions.

[Arjen]

Well, if you ask me, it's a "necessary evil", so the shorter the better.

There used to be shareware/freeware that said: "This program is only guaranteed to take up hard disk space". I liked that.

[Jibz]

I quite like the zlib license:

Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holders>

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

    1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

    2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

    3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Basically: free to use, don't blame me if anything goes wrong, and don't claim you wrote it .

[Arjen]

Sounds good.

    2. Altered source versions [..]

-Jibz (December 15, 2006, 05:48 AM)

Does this mean this license is only meant/usable for open source software? Not for free but closed source software (freeware/donationware)?

[Jibz]

It is an open source license, and as such items 2) and 3) make sure any source distributed remains under the zlib license. However there is no requirement in the license to distribute source.

[Ruffnekk]

You can use the license I used with Fixed Run Dialog:

Spoiler

APPLICATION_NAME FREEWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

By using this Freeware version of 'APPLICATION_NAME' you acknowledge that you have read this limited warranty, understand it, and agree to be bound by its’ Terms and Conditions. You also agree that the limited warranty is the complete and exclusive statement of agreement between the parties and supersede all proposals or prior agreements, oral or written, and any other communications between the parties relating to the subject matter of the limited warranty.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright for APPLICATION_NAME by YOUR_NAME. All rights reserved. You must treat the Software like any other copyrighted material.

LICENSE

This APPLICATION_NAME Freeware License Agreement (the "Agreement") is a legal agreement between you ("Licensee"), the end-user, and YOUR_NAME for the use of the APPLICATION_NAME software product ("Software").

Carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this Software. Unless you have a different license agreement signed by YOUR_NAME your use of this Software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.

For information on distributing the freeware version of this Software see the section titled Distribution.

By using this Software or storing this program or parts of it on a computer hard drive (or other media), you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, delete the Software from all storage media.

You may not alter this Software in any way.

You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce this Software to a human perceivable.

You may not modify, rent or resell for profit this Software, or create derivative works based upon this Software.
GOVERNING LAW

This agreement shall be governed by the laws of YOUR_COUNTRY.

LIMITED WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

YOUR_NAME expressly disclaims any warranty for the Software. This Software and the accompanying files are distributed ‘as is’ and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied, or non infringement.

This Software is not fault tolerant and should not be used in any environment which requires this.

NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES

In no event shall YOUR_NAME or any appointed distributing parties or its suppliers be liable to you for any consequential, incidental or indirect damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this Software even if YOUR_NAME has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the Software remains with you.

Because of the various hardware and software environments into which the Software may be put, no warranty or fitness for a particular purpose is offered.

The liability of YOUR_NAME for actual damages from any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of action (whether in contract, tort (including negligence), product liability or otherwise) will be limited to zero, nothing.

If any portion of this Agreement is deemed unenforceable by a Court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect the forcibility of the other portions of this Agreement.

DISTRIBUTION

Provided that you verify that you are handling the original Freeware version you are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the Freeware version of this Software and documentation as you wish for your personal non profit use.

Distributing by any means, charging, or requesting donations for any such copies and distributing the Software and/or documentation with other products (commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission is prohibited, however made.

Just replace the bold text with your own. It's not short, but it covers what I want.

[Arjen]

Thanks. Where did you get this? This looks like quite a restrictive license. And it's too long, in my opinion -- who is actually going to read all this?

I'd like a license that allows people to basically do whatever they want, except:

• blame me if something goes wrong.
• distribute (let alone sell) my program and say they wrote it, as desribed by mouser here.

The zlib license as described by Jibz looks good and short seems to cover both these points -- am I right?

[Ruffnekk]

Yes I guess it will do, but that's an open source license. You could modify it to Freeware (no source code available and no reverse engineering, etc.) Hey, I might even start to use it myself

P.S.: I ripped the license from some other freeware app. Nowhere in the license does it say I can't steal the license 

[Arjen]

Yes I guess it will do, but that's an open source license.

-Ruffnekk (December 15, 2006, 08:48 AM)

Well, according to Jibz, and as described here, this license doesn't say you must distribute the source code. Since points 2 and 3 in the license (see above) only apply to the source code, I wonder if they could be omitted for a freeware closed-source application. Anyone?

How about the MIT, BSD or ISC licenses? They are also short and seem comparable to the Zlib license.

[app103]

and in addition to the usual "don't alter my software and claim you wrote it' stuff, you could use my disclaimer:

Spoiler

DISCLAIMER:

  This program is provided as is.
  There are no claims made that it will work, not cause your pc problems, etc etc.

  Your mileage may vary, parental guidance is advised, call before you dig,
  consult your doctor, action figures sold separately, see a qualified tax
  professional, mind the gap, may contain peanuts, no user serviceable parts inside,
  etc etc etc.

  If this program causes your PC to explode, which in turn sets your house on fire,
  killing your neighbor's dog, you assume all responsibility for such and not me.
  Use at your own risk!

[Arjen]