Open Source License Resource Center

This page is the first step of a multi-stage process in which Black Duck Software will offer public information about the use of open source licenses. Please keep checking back for regular updates. The data on this page is refreshed daily.

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 Top 20 Most Commonly Used Licenses in Open Source Projects

The table below illustrates the top 20 licenses that are used in open source projects, according to the Black Duck Software KnowledgeBase. This data is updated daily.

Please click on a license name for more information.

GPLv3 and LGPLv3 Adoption Rates

This chart depicts the number of projects that are using GPLv3 and LGPLv3 today (released) and the number of projects that plan to use GPLv3 and LPGL3 in the future (announced). The numbers depicted are accumulated month to month. The table is updated daily and the current month's statistics are to date only.

Most recent Projects To Convert to GPLv3 or LGPLv3

This table highlights the 10 most recent projects to be converted to GPLv3 or LGPLv3 and is updated daily.

For a full list of projects that have converted or plan to be convert, please visit the GPLv3 and LGPLv3 project page.

What are GPLv3 and LGPLv3?

On Friday June 29th, the Free Software Foundation announced the release of GPL (General Public License), version 3. This much anticipated version is the sequel to the commonly used GPLv2.

GPLv3, like GPLv2, is a copyleft license. Copyleft essentially achieves the opposite of copyright in that copyleft supports access to source code and not the protection of code as private property. At the heart of a copyleft license is the reciprocity obligation. Reciprocity means that, if you create a work "based on” GPL’d software and you distribute the resulting work, then you have to distribute the resulting work under the GPL. In other words, you are required to give the user the source code for the work and all of the rights to modify and distribute the code that you received under the GPL.

LGPLv3, the “Lesser General Public License” contains the same terms as the GPLv3, but gives additional permissions to those who wish to re-distribute code. The LGPLv3 is designed to allow the combination of Copyleft code with non-Copyleft code in certain situations.

For more information, please download the GPLv3 summary paper or view the recorded presentation "What you need to know about GPLv3".

What is Affero?

The GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (GNU AGPLv3) extends the GPLv3 license by giving end-users access to the source code for software accessed over a network.

When GPL and AGPLv3 code is combined for use over a network (e.g. in a website), all the combined source code must now be made available to its end-users, allowing them to make modifications to the code. This new license is important for companies that offer web-based solutions and also for organizations that provide software for their clients to use over the web (such as online banking software).

How does Black Duck Software gather project information?

Black Duck Software has compiled the world’s most comprehensive KnowledgeBase of open source components, used to identify and provide information about the content of software and associated licenses. Each day we extract related GPLv3 and LGPLv3 information and present the data above.