this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2025
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Open-Source is Just That (vale.rocks)
submitted 1 day ago by excel24@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It's really not:

  1. Free Redistribution

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

  1. Source Code

The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

  1. Derived Works

The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That is what I would mean by "open source" but I can't blame the uninitiated from thinking it means something else. Consider every-day usage of the word "open" - an open door could be fully open, just have a small gap or even shut but unlocked ("come in, the door is open"). A well-meaning developer could think Unreal engine is open source because they can see the source code (the code is "open" to them). Words don't have innate definitions, they have usages.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

Sure, but there are definitions available. If you're unfamiliar with a term, it's not unreasonable to search "open source definition."

"Free Software" has a similar problem in that people assume it just means freeware, when in fact it has a very specific meaning.

Anyway, this is another good reason to use the term FOSS. Most people don't care about the difference between free and open source software, and the term is unfamiliar enough that they'll look up the definition.