opencores.org - Question on project licensing?

Question

I would like to contribute a multi-cycle (slow, but area-compact) (Hehe, someone else already released a pipelined integer-divider, to the opencores.org repository. Gence I'm marketing my divider as 'compact'!) I am reading through the FAQ, and one part has me a bit confused...

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The 'licensing' portion -- I understand that the 'GPL' license is fairly restrictive in that it forces derivative works to be distributed in documented *AND* modifiable form.

My goal is to let *anyone* use my integer-divider as they see fit. If they want to use it in a closed commercial project, that's fine. It seems like a GPL-release cannot be used in a closed project, is that correct?

So under which license should I release my divider? LGPL, BSD, etc.?!?

...

Also, is Xilinx Webpack 5.1ISE the final version that will run under Win98se (no flames please)? The newer versions refuse to install.

Antti Lukats · Accepted Answer

could I have a sneak preview of your divider ? (I want violate the license, whatever you will choose later)

and you are right about licensing (that is confusing) GPL is what people think 'free' but in some way its more restrictive than commercial licenses.

antti

Martin Schoeberl · Answer

BSD licencense is popular, but the original had some problems see:

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So get a copy of the 'new' version or state it like suggested 'revised BSD license'. Martin

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Rob Judd · Answer

Martin,Copyright? Copyleft? Hey, if I do an I-Q converter, can I useCopyOrthogonal?Rob (at 90 degrees to reality)Mart

Martin Schoeberl · Answer

Rob,I didn't invent these words and I find them also strange ;-)MartinBSDinstall.

Rudolf Usselmann · Answer

Look at some other IP cores (perhaps some of mine) at OpenCores. I faced the same problem that you are facing, I wanted to protect myself but not limit the usage of any of my IP cores. So I created my own "license". It's on top of each of my files ...

Best Regards, rudi

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Jon Masters · Answer

LGPL will not really help you here and I am not really sure how you would apply it to a hardware design in any case. Can you LGPL license hardware designs and treat the situation is if you were linking against a library thus being ok with binary distribution? Does that really work?

I personally prefer the GPL over most other licenses however in this case either having no license or a BSD style one will probably suffice.

Jon.

opencores.org - Question on project licensing?

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