choosealicense.com/about.md

---
title: About
layout: default
permalink: /about/
title: What's this about?
---

GitHub wants to help developers choose a license for their source code.

If you already know what you're doing and have a license you prefer to use, that's great! We're not here to change your mind. But if you are bewildered by the large number of OSS license choices, maybe we can help.

## Not comprehensive

This site is not a comprehensive directory of open source licenses.  We think there are too many options, which adds to the confusion. On the homepage, we break it down into just three licenses. The vast majority of projects will likely be fine choosing from one of these three. Just in case you have specific needs not covered by those three, we also highlight a [few other licenses to consider](/licenses/).

### Additional resources

* [Open Source Initiative](http://opensource.org/licenses/) - comprehensive list of open source licenses
* [Comparison of free and open-source software licenses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-source_software_licenses) on Wikipedia
* [License differentiator](http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/apps/licdiff/) from [OSS Watch](http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/)
* [TLDRLegal](https://tldrlegal.com/)
{: .bullets}

### Tools

* [gem-licenses](https://github.com/dblock/gem-licenses)
* [LicenseFinder](https://github.com/pivotal/LicenseFinder)
* [License Maven Plugin](http://mojo.codehaus.org/license-maven-plugin/)
* [AddALicense.com](http://www.addalicense.com/)
{: .bullets}

## Help us improve it

Choosealicense.com isn't just about open source, the site itself is open source as well. See something you think could be done better? Feel free to [fork the project](https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com) on GitHub and submit a pull request. We'd welcome your improvements.

## Disclaimer

We are not lawyers. Well, most of us anyway. It is not the goal of this site to provide legal advice. The goal of this site is to provide a starting point to help you make an informed choice by providing information on popular open source licenses. If you have any questions regarding the right license for your code or any other legal issues relating to it, it's always best to consult with a professional.
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00			`---`
			`title: About`
			`layout: default`
			`permalink: /about/`
Revert 26bb900113ad6385c743b7a6d61c5595364d075b. Jekyll already takes care of those. 2014-01-23 12:44:09 +02:00			`title: What's this about?`
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00			`---`

s/we want/GitHub wants/ in about.md, props @haacked 2013-07-13 19:01:23 -04:00			`GitHub wants to help developers choose a license for their source code.`
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00
about.md: remove unneeded html entities. 2013-10-30 20:46:21 +02:00			`If you already know what you're doing and have a license you prefer to use, that's great! We're not here to change your mind. But if you are bewildered by the large number of OSS license choices, maybe we can help.`
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00
			`## Not comprehensive`

include list of tools 2013-10-23 00:56:24 -07:00			`This site is not a comprehensive directory of open source licenses. We think there are too many options, which adds to the confusion. On the homepage, we break it down into just three licenses. The vast majority of projects will likely be fine choosing from one of these three. Just in case you have specific needs not covered by those three, we also highlight a [few other licenses to consider](/licenses/).`

			`### Additional resources`
include list of resources 2013-09-14 02:15:12 -04:00
convert resource list to kramdown syntax 2013-09-16 14:21:19 -04:00			`* [Open Source Initiative](http://opensource.org/licenses/) - comprehensive list of open source licenses`
			`* [Comparison of free and open-source software licenses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-source_software_licenses) on Wikipedia`
			`* [License differentiator](http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/apps/licdiff/) from [OSS Watch](http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/)`
Update URL of TLDRLegal 2014-02-16 12:52:16 +09:00			`* [TLDRLegal](https://tldrlegal.com/)`
convert resource list to kramdown syntax 2013-09-16 14:21:19 -04:00			`{: .bullets}`
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00
include list of tools 2013-10-23 00:56:24 -07:00			`### Tools`

			`* [gem-licenses](https://github.com/dblock/gem-licenses)`
			`* [LicenseFinder](https://github.com/pivotal/LicenseFinder)`
			`* [License Maven Plugin](http://mojo.codehaus.org/license-maven-plugin/)`
Add AddALicense.com 2013-10-23 14:56:31 -07:00			`* [AddALicense.com](http://www.addalicense.com/)`
include list of tools 2013-10-23 00:56:24 -07:00			`{: .bullets}`

add link to source code 2013-06-16 11:03:31 -04:00			`## Help us improve it`

about.md: remove unneeded html entities. 2013-10-30 20:46:21 +02:00			`Choosealicense.com isn't just about open source, the site itself is open source as well. See something you think could be done better? Feel free to [fork the project](https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com) on GitHub and submit a pull request. We'd welcome your improvements.`
add link to source code 2013-06-16 11:03:31 -04:00
First pass at Jekylification * Move licenses to license template * Move home / about to page template * Move annotations to config file, included via annotations.js * Move license metadata to YML Front matter * Automate the presentation of license metadata * Move sidebar to include * Add _site to gitignore 2013-04-09 12:41:25 -04:00			`## Disclaimer`

Typo anyways should be anyway; Sentence needs a comma to break in 2013-12-02 20:32:36 -05:00			`We are not lawyers. Well, most of us anyway. It is not the goal of this site to provide legal advice. The goal of this site is to provide a starting point to help you make an informed choice by providing information on popular open source licenses. If you have any questions regarding the right license for your code or any other legal issues relating to it, it's always best to consult with a professional.`