Here's another entry from the perl.org mailbag. Anyone want to take a shot at a response?
I see it says you can use either the Artistic License or the GNU License. What determines deciding upon one license or another? Please advise. Thanks.
-Karen
It very much depends on what you want to use it for. The choice of licenses makes absolutely no difference to the average user.
If you're just installing Perl and running scripts and modules on top of it, it doesn't matter which license you use because they both allow free use. Both licenses allow you to send a friend a copy of Perl or post it on your website (this is "distribution") if you copy it without making any changes. Both licenses let you to change the code for Perl and redistribute it for free as long as you clearly document the changes you made and make the source code of your changes publicly available.
The difference comes in if you want to distribute your changed version of Perl and either want to charge money for the code or keep the source code of your changes private (or both). The GPL doesn't allow this. The Artistic license does (with a few restrictions on how you do it).
If you're trying to decide which license to use for your own modules or scripts, again you would choose by how you want other people to use your code.
Hope this helps.
Re:Choose the license that suits your use
chromatic on 2004-03-16T07:03:46
To be even clearer, the GPL prohibits charging for a license (GPL, section 3, 2b), but you can charge a copying fee (section 3, 1, second paragraph). In other words, you can't charge for the software, but you can charge for distributing the software. It's a subtle distinction, but it's important for businesses who distribute Free Software.
In other writings on the FSF's site, the GNU project encourages Selling Free Software. See also the GPL FAQ, specifically Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money? and following questions.
Note that neither license applies to the copyright holder, who can do most anything he wants.
