Ask HN: Is it necessary to say open-source software comes with no warranty?

I just looked at the list of open-source licenses. It's a long list that takes time to read and understand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-source_software_licenses

Is there or can there be a license that means all the good things and none of the bad, and is under 5 words?

2 comments

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I'd suggest reading this line-by-line explanation of the MIT license: https://writing.kemitchell.com/2016/09/21/MIT-License-Line-b...

Once you understand why everything that's in a license is there, it's hard to imagine making it much shorter.

The Apache license does a good job of separating out the full text and a smaller boilerplate to put on each file, so that may be a good option.

brudgers 9y ago ↗

Discussing serious concerns with a lawyer might be a useful strategy. The cost of doing so reasonably filters concerns on seriousness. Among serious concerns, proprietary commercial licensing, and dual licensing seem like a good candidates.

Another useful strategy in many other cases might be choosing a standard license because it allows energy to be devoted to the product which is often where value lies.

Good luck.