Beerware
| Author | Poul-Henning Kamp |
|---|---|
| Latest version | 42 |
| Published | 2004 |
| DFSG compatible | Yes |
| FSF approved | Yes (see "informal license" section) |
| OSI approved | No |
| GPL compatible | Yes |
| Copyleft | No |
| Linking from code with a different license | Yes |
Beerware is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek term for software released under a very relaxed license (beerware licensed software). It provides the end user with the right to use a particular program (or do anything else with the source code).
Should the user of the product meet the author and consider the software useful, they are encouraged to either buy the author a beer "in return" or drink one themselves. The Fedora project and Humanitarian-FOSS project at Trinity College recognized the "version 42" beerware license variant as extremely permissive "copyright only" license, and consider it as GPL compatible. As of 2016[update] the Free Software Foundation does not mention this license explicitly, but its list of licenses contains an entry for informal licenses, which are listed as free, non-copyleft, and GPL-compatible. However, the FSF recommends the use of more detailed licenses over informal ones.
Many variations on the beerware model have been created. Poul-Henning Kamp's beerware license is simple and short, in contrast to the GPL, which he has described as a "joke". The full text of Kamp's license is:
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