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| NCSA Open Source License | |
|---|---|
| Name | NCSA Open Source License |
| Other names | University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License |
| Type | Permissive free software license |
| Approved by | Open Source Initiative |
NCSA Open Source License The NCSA Open Source License is a permissive software license originating from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, intended to provide simple redistribution terms for software projects associated with academic institutions such as the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and collaborative efforts involving entities like Apache Software Foundation, Free Software Foundation, Linux Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, and Open Source Initiative. It balances attribution requirements with broad reuse rights used by projects in environments including the X Window System, Zope Corporation, Python Software Foundation, University of Chicago, and other research institutes such as Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The NCSA Open Source License was drafted to serve academic research communities at places like the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and collaborative projects involving the Apache Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Free Software Foundation, Software Freedom Conservancy, and the Open Source Initiative. It is categorized alongside permissive licenses used by many projects affiliated with the Linux Foundation, Python Software Foundation, X.Org Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, and corporate contributors like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, and Google. The license emphasizes attribution and disclaimer language similar to that found in licenses maintained by the Open Source Initiative, used in contexts including the World Wide Web Consortium, Internet Engineering Task Force, European Organization for Nuclear Research, and national laboratories like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The license requires preservation of copyright notices and a short disclaimer, a practice shared with licenses from the Apache Software Foundation and the BSD family used by projects at University of California, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford University. It permits copying, modification, and distribution by entities including Red Hat, Canonical, SUSE, and Debian Project contributors, while disclaiming warranties in a manner comparable to text used by the Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative approvals. The terms are concise, mirroring the clarity sought by legal teams at corporations such as IBM, Google, Apple Inc., and Microsoft, and by institutions like National Institute of Standards and Technology and European Commission projects.
The NCSA Open Source License is broadly compatible with the GNU General Public License family, enabling code integration into projects governed by the GNU Project, Debian, and distributions maintained by Red Hat and Canonical. Its permissive nature aligns it with the MIT License, the 2-clause BSD license, and the ISC License used by repositories hosted on GitHub, GitLab, SourceForge, and infrastructure provided by GitHub, Inc. and GitLab Inc.. Its lack of copyleft obligations permits use by commercial entities including Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, and Amazon Web Services in proprietary and open source combined offerings.
The license emerged from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign in response to distribution needs for software such as the Mosaic project and other academic outputs developed alongside projects at the National Science Foundation. It was influenced by historical permissive forms used at the University of California, Berkeley and legal counsel practices at institutions like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Prominent legal scholars and practitioners with ties to the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative advised on aligning the text with contemporary licensing norms observed at Apache Software Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, and corporate contributors such as IBM and Intel.
The license has been used by software originating at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, projects associated with the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and standalone projects mirrored on platforms like GitHub, SourceForge, and GitLab. It found adoption in academic and research projects at institutions including Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CERN, NASA, and by collaborative initiatives with organizations such as Mozilla Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, Python Software Foundation, and industry partners like Intel and IBM. Its simplicity made it a choice for smaller utilities and libraries distributed by contributors affiliated with the X.Org Foundation, KDE e.V., GIMP Development Team, GNOME Foundation, and independent researchers linked to the European Space Agency and national research councils.
Legal analysis of the license has been undertaken by counsel with experience at the Free Software Foundation, Open Source Initiative, and corporate legal departments at IBM, Microsoft, and Google. Debates have surfaced in contexts involving institutions such as the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications over attribution language and patent considerations raised by parties like the Software Freedom Law Center and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Comparisons with the Apache License have highlighted differences concerning patent grants, invoked in discussions at forums including the Internet Engineering Task Force, W3C, and academic conferences sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the European Commission.
Compared to the MIT License, the 2-clause BSD license, and the ISC License, the NCSA Open Source License provides similar permissive terms with explicit attribution and disclaimer requirements used by projects at the University of California, Berkeley, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon University. Unlike the Apache License used by the Apache Software Foundation, it lacks an explicit patent license clause, a point frequently contrasted by legal teams at IBM, Google, Microsoft, and the Free Software Foundation. Its GPL compatibility distinguishes it from certain permissive variants discussed in policy settings at the Debian Project, GNU Project, and distribution maintainers like Red Hat and Canonical.