The
Netscape Public License (NPL) is a free software license, the license under which Netscape Communications Corporation originally released
MozillaMozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the now-defunct Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software, including the Mozilla.org group and its successor the Mozilla Foundation....
.
Its most notable feature is that it gives the original developer of Mozilla (Netscape, now a subsidiary of
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
), the right to distribute modifications made by other contributors under whatever terms it desires, including
proprietaryProprietary software is any computer software with restrictions on use or private modification, or with restrictions judged to be excessive on copying or publishing of modified or unmodified versions. The term proprietary software is thus the opposite of free software, generally speaking...
terms, without granting similar rights to these other contributors in respect to contributions made by the original developer.
The
Netscape Public License (NPL) is a free software license, the license under which Netscape Communications Corporation originally released
MozillaMozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the now-defunct Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software, including the Mozilla.org group and its successor the Mozilla Foundation....
.
Its most notable feature is that it gives the original developer of Mozilla (Netscape, now a subsidiary of
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
), the right to distribute modifications made by other contributors under whatever terms it desires, including
proprietaryProprietary software is any computer software with restrictions on use or private modification, or with restrictions judged to be excessive on copying or publishing of modified or unmodified versions. The term proprietary software is thus the opposite of free software, generally speaking...
terms, without granting similar rights to these other contributors in respect to contributions made by the original developer. This allowed the release of the
NetscapeNetscape 7 was a series of proprietary cross-platform Internet suites created by Netscape Communications Corporation and then in-house by AOL to continue the Netscape series after Netscape 6. There were three main editions released from the Netscape 7 series; being Netscape 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2...
6 and later versions as proprietary software.
This asymmetry with respect to rights has led to criticism of the license by many members of the
open sourceOpen source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to a software's source code. Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations...
and
free softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also...
movements: the
Free Software FoundationThe Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to distribute and modify computer software...
acknowledged it as a free-software license
but one to be avoided, and the
Open Source InitiativeThe Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
rejected it entirely. The FSF adds that it's not possible to combine software obtained under the license with software obtained under the
GPLThe GNU General Public License is a widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project....
.
The
Mozilla Public LicenseThe Mozilla Public License is a free and open source software license. Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker when she worked as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation and version 1.1 at the Mozilla Foundation...
is similar, but lacks the asymmetry in rights. Time Warner, exercising its rights under the Netscape Public License, and at the request of the Mozilla Foundation, has
relicensed all code in Mozilla that was under the Netscape Public License (including code by other contributors) to an MPL/GPL/
LGPLThe GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
triple license, thus removing the GPL-incompatibility.
External links