Licensing & Legal

What a license lets people do with your code, and which one to pick, apply and live with.

• For: anyone who publishes code, and anyone whose company asks “can we use this?”.
• You’ll need: a project, or a dependency you’re wondering about.
• Skip if: your project has a license you chose on purpose, and you know what it asks of its users.

This module will take you approximately 42 min to read.

1. Choosing a License: Four Questions and a Table
   6 min
2. License Compatibility: What You Can Combine, and the Tools That Check
   6 min
3. Relicensing: The Source-Available Wave, and the Forks That Answered
   9 min
4. CLA or DCO: What You Sign When You Contribute
   7 min
5. Licenses for Things That Aren't Code: Docs, Fonts, Hardware, Data and Models
   7 min
6. Trademarks, Names and Logos: What Your License Doesn't Cover
   7 min