Litsentsid on jagamise reeglid. Need pole hirmutavad — need on sinu supervõime! Õpi, millist kasutada, mida need lubavad ja miks need tähtsad on.
Think of it as the rules that come with sharing your creation.
Imagine you bake an amazing cake and want to share the recipe. A license is like a little note you attach that says what others can do with it:
„Ma ei jaga retsepti. Saad süüa ainult kooki, mille sulle annan.“
„Siin on retsept! Tee, mida soovid — lihtsalt maini, et mina selle tegin.“
„Siin on retsept! Kui seda muudad, PEAD ka oma versiooni jagama!“
„Siin on retsept! Kasuta seda vabalt ja ma luban, et ei kaeba sind kohtusse.“
Without a license, your code is EI OLE avatud lähtekoodiga — even if it's on GitHub! By default, copyright law means "all rights reserved." A license is what officially gives people permission to use, modify, and share your work. No license = no one can legally use your code.
These 5 licenses cover 95% of all open-source projects.
In plain English: „Tee minu koodiga, mida soovid. Jäta lihtsalt minu nimi alles. Ma ei vastuta, kui midagi katki läheb.“
The MIT License is the simplest and most permissive open-source license. It's just 170 words long! It lets anyone use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and even sell your code — as long as they include your original copyright notice.
React (Meta), VS Code (Microsoft), jQuery, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Bootstrap, Electron, and thousands more. It's the #1 most popular license on GitHub!
In plain English: „Kasuta minu koodi vabalt. Aga kui seda muudad ja jagad, PEAD ka OMA koodi GPL-i alusel jagama. Keegi ei saa seda suletud lähtekoodiga tarkvaraks muuta.“
Created by Richard Stallman, the GPL is the "copyleft" license. Its key rule: if you use GPL code in your project and distribute it, your entire project must also be GPL. This ensures the code stays free forever — no company can take it, close it, and sell it.
Linuxi tuum, WordPress, GIMP, Blender, GCC, Bash ja paljud vaba tarkvara põhiprojektid. Kui see kuulub GNU projekti, on litsents GPL!
⚠️ The "viral" effect: If you use GPL code in your app, your WHOLE app must become GPL. This is why some companies avoid GPL — they don't want to open their code. But this is exactly what GPL was designed to do: keep software free forever.
In plain English: „Kasuta minu koodi vabalt, ka kommertstoodetes. Lisaks luban, et ei kaeba sind kohtusse selles koodis sisalduvate patentide pärast. Kui keegi seda muudab, peab ta muudatused ära märkima.“
Apache 2.0 is similar to MIT but adds two important things: patent protection (autor annab sulle litsentsi koodis sisalduvate patentide kasutamiseks) ning change documentation (muudetud failides tuleb märkida, et neid on muudetud).
Android (Google), Kubernetes, TensorFlow, Swift (Apple), Apache HTTP Server, Kafka, Hadoop. Suurettevõtted eelistavad seda patendiklausli tõttu!
In plain English: „Tee, mida soovid. Säilita minu autoriõiguse märge. Ära kasuta minu nime oma versiooni reklaamimiseks.“ Väga sarnane MIT-ga, kuid pärineb akadeemilisest maailmast (Berkeley).
BSD came from the University of California, Berkeley. The 2-clause version is almost identical to MIT. The 3-clause adds a "no endorsement" rule: you can't say "Berkeley approves this" unless they actually do.
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD operating systems, Nginx, PostgreSQL (similar), and many university research projects. macOS and PlayStation OS are based on BSD!
In plain English: „Creative Commons on mõeldud sisule, mis pole kood: pildid, muusika, videod, dokumendid ja õppematerjalid. Valid reeglid lihtsate ehitusplokkide abil!“
CC licenses use a mix-and-match system with 4 building blocks:
The most open CC license is CC0 (üldkasutatav — piiranguteta!) ja CC BY (piisab autorile viitamisest). Vikipeedia kasutab CC BY-SA.
Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), Khan Academy, Flickr photos, MIT OpenCourseWare, many YouTube creators, and this Alin Li course! CC is the standard for open educational resources.
See all licenses at a glance!
| Feature | MIT | GPL v3 | Apache 2.0 | BSD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial use | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Muuda ja levita | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Use in closed-source | ✅ Yes | ❌ No! | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Muudatused tuleb jagada | ❌ No | ⚠️ YES! | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Patendikaitse | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Keep copyright notice | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Muudatuste märkimine | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Complexity | Simple | Complex | Keskmine | Simple |
| Pikkus | ~170 words | ~5,600 words | ~4,200 words | ~200 words |
| Best for... | Maksimaalne vabadus | Keeping code free forever | Enterprise + patents | Akadeemilised projektid |
Answer 3 questions and we'll recommend the perfect license!
It takes literally 2 minutes!
GitHub's tool makes it easy to pick the right license with a comparison.
In the root of your project, create a file named LICENSE või LICENSE.md
Copy the full license text and replace [year] and [author] with your information.
GitHub will automatically detect your license and show a badge on your repo. On GitHub, you can even add a license when creating a new repo — just select it from the dropdown!
Vaatame, kas said litsentsidest aru!