Iglistkit: [Question] BSD License for dummies

[HarshilShah]

New issue checklist

• [x] I have reviewed the README and documentation
• [x] I have searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate

This is probably a stupid question, but I couldn’t find a reasonable answer anywhere so I thought I’d just ask anyway.

I’m working on a library of my own, and I wish to include IGListKit as a dependency within it. I will not be storing IGListKit within my library’s repository, and only linking to it as a dependency using the official Carthage and CocoaPods methods to do so.

So two questions about this:

• Do I need to include IGListKit's copyright notice within the library and/or any attached example projects?
• Does using IGListKit mean I have to use the same license or anything like that?

Again, I realise these are stupid questions, and I think I can guess the answers to both, but ones that I thought I’d get clarified regardless.

Thanks

[jessesquires]

Hey @HarshilShah ! 😄

Not a stupid question at all. Software licensing is hard. In general, the BSD license is an extremely permissive license. (It's basically the MIT license, except it requires attribution and prevents endorsements.) Caveat — I am not a lawyer. 😉

Despite some legal jargon, the 3 conditions are pretty straight-forward:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

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Do I need to include IGListKit's copyright notice within the library and/or any attached example projects?

Yes (although this is rarely, if ever, enforced — generally speaking.)

Does using IGListKit mean I have to use the same license or anything like that?

No. You're free to apply any license, or use this for closed-source project.

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I'd recommend using the MIT license for your library (assuming it will be open-source). This is probably the most common because it is the most permissive license.

[HarshilShah]

Thanks for the help @jessesquires! Definitely going ahead with MIT for my library.