Apple Public Source License Version 2.0 Released, Now Certified As A Free Software License

by , 10:00 AM EDT, August 7th, 2003

Apple has updated its Apple Public Source License (APSL), bringing it to version 2.0. Version 2.0 of the APSL is now considered a Free Software license by the Free Software Foundation, who is best known for the GNU Project and the GNU General Public License.

Other changes to the new version of the license allow users and corporations that make changes to the source for personal use to keep the changes private, and users can choose to release the source code of programs based on APSL code to either only the users of the code or to the general public. In addition, parts of the wording and arrangement of the license were updated and changed. From Apple:

Apple is pleased to announce the 2.0 version of the Apple Public Source License. It improves upon the OSI-approved APSL 1.2 by conforming to the definition of Free Software Licenses, as certified by the Free Software Foundation. We are grateful to Richard Stallman for his many helpful comments in this process. APSL 2.0 is also being submitted to the Open Source Initiative to certify its continued compliance with the Open Source Definition.

The Apple Public Source License 2.0 includes numerous changes to make it even easier for Open Source developers to use and comply with, including:

• Source distribution is only required for "External Deployment", allowing individuals and corporations to do private internal deployments
• An option to distribute source only to those receiving binaries, rather than always having to distribute to the general public
• Simpler, clearer, and more symmetric licensing terms

You can read the full announcement or the text of the license at the Open Source section of Apple's Developer Connection site.

On the same page, you will find a related announcement from Apple. Your Apple ID is now good for the Open Source section of Apple's site, in addition to the Apple Developer Connection, the Knowledge Base, the Apple Store, and the iTunes Music Store.

Thanks to Slashdot for pointing these items out.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This should make open source advocates happy. Or at least happier than they were with the previous, more restrictive versions of the APSL. Software projects such as Fink, GNU-Darwin and others that deal directly with Darwin and other open source Apple products should be especially pleased.

Apple mentioned that they worked closely with Richard Stallman of the FSF. This seems to further prove that Apple is dedicated to not only making use of free and open source software, but actually giving back to the community that has helped them out. Apple used the KHTML rendering engine from the Konqueror project as a basis for its Safari web browser, but instead of taking the code and running (as a certain other company might have done), Apple contributed its changes back to the Konqueror folks, helping them out in the process. The changes in the APSL reinforce the belief that Apple genuinely believes that open source is a Good Thing™, and that in itself is a Good Thing™.

Apple Open Source