Best of Licensing — 2025

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   Article

   JetBrains·1y

   CLion Is Now Free for Non-Commercial Use

   CLion, a JetBrains IDE for C and C++ development, is now available free for non-commercial use. This initiative is in line with similar changes made to other JetBrains IDEs to support learners, hobbyists, and open-source contributors. The full IDE features remain accessible under this license with the exception of the 'Code With Me' feature. Non-commercial use includes learning and hobby projects, but a commercial license is still needed for commercial projects.

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   Article

   Hacker News·33w

   Free Software hasn't won

   Free and open source software has succeeded in developer tools and operating systems, but failed to penetrate most consumer hardware and appliances. Modern devices contain 10-15 processors running closed firmware, from keyboards to storage drives, leaving users dependent on manufacturers for security updates and repairs. This creates e-waste through forced obsolescence, enables vendor lock-in through cloud dependencies, and prevents users from modifying devices they own. The author argues developers must publish firmware sources, use copyleft licenses like GPL, demand open documentation, and support political movements for right to repair and device freedom.

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   Article

   daniel.haxx.se·41w

   car brands running curl

   Curl now runs in cars from 47 major automotive brands including Tesla, BMW, Toyota, and Mercedes, representing several hundred million vehicles. Despite this widespread adoption in the automotive industry, none of these companies sponsor or financially support the curl project, highlighting challenges in open source sustainability where critical infrastructure is used freely without contributing back to its development.

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   Article

   xkcd·1y

   xkcd: Modern

   Xkcd's 'Modern' comic is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, allowing people to copy and share it freely, but not for commercial use.

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   Article

   David Heinemeier Hansson·24w

   The O'Saasy License

   The O'Saasy License is a new open source license modeled after MIT but reserves commercial SaaS rights for the copyright holder. It aims to encourage more production-grade code to be shared publicly for learning purposes while allowing creators to monetize their work through hosted services. The license is available at osaasy.dev and is being used for Fizzy, enabling developers to view, learn from, fix bugs, and self-host the software while the original creators retain exclusive rights to offer it as a commercial service.

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   Hacker News·39w

   Bear is now source-available

   Bear, a blogging platform, has changed its license from MIT to the Elastic License to prevent competitors from creating hosted services using its code. The creator explains this decision was driven by repeated instances of people forking the project to launch competing services, which threatened the platform's sustainability. The new license maintains most open-source freedoms while restricting commercial hosting, following a trend among other projects facing similar challenges in the AI-powered development era.

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   Article

   xkcd·40w

   xkcd: Coastline Similarity

   An xkcd comic exploring coastline similarity, likely referencing the mathematical coastline paradox or fractal geometry concepts. The content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, allowing free copying and sharing but not commercial use.

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   xkcd·1y

   xkcd: AlphaMove

   The work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, allowing free copying and sharing but not for commercial purposes.

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   Article

   Lobsters·1y

   Bash++

   Bash++ is governed by the GNU General Public License v3, allowing users to use the Bash++ language and compiler freely while enabling them to write software under different licenses. The documentation for Bash++ is covered under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, permitting sharing and adaptation with proper attribution and under the same licensing terms.

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    Article

    xkcd·1y

    xkcd: Rotary Tool

    The post discusses the licensing terms for xkcd comics, specifically that they are free to copy and share under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, but cannot be sold.

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    Article

    xkcd·1y

    xkcd: Baker's Units

    The post highlights that the comic 'Baker's Units' from XKCD is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. It allows copying and sharing the comics but restricts selling them. More details on licensing are available at XKCD's site.

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    Article

    Hacker News·30w

    The Human Only Public License

    Introduces the Human Only Public License (HOPL), a new copyleft software license designed to prohibit AI systems from accessing, analyzing, or using licensed software in any capacity. The license places compliance burden on AI systems and their users rather than software deployers, requiring only that terms of service advertise the restriction. Beyond the AI prohibition, HOPL functions like an MIT license with a copyleft clause ensuring derivative works maintain the same restrictions. The author argues this provides developers an option to create and maintain human-only digital spaces, noting that corporations take licenses more seriously than robots.txt files.

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    Nick Chapsas·1y

    Stop Using FluentAssertions Now

    FluentAssertions has become a paid library with its version 8 release, costing $130 per developer. The library, previously free, is now under the ownership of Exed Software. The move has faced significant backlash for its sudden pricing introduction. Users are advised to stay on version 7 or consider alternatives.

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    Article

    The Barley Architect·1y

    AutoMapper and MediatR Licensing Update

    AutoMapper and MediatR are transitioning to a dual licensing model to ensure their long-term sustainability. The new model will make these libraries free for OSS developers, individuals, hobbyists, non-profits, startups, and non-commercial use, while commercial entities will need to obtain paid licenses. The aim is to provide value beyond basic access and avoid per-seat licensing to make the process simpler. Pricing details and licensing tiers are still being determined, with plans to launch soon.

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