Developers need to pay attention to licenses

Applications are made up of code that comes from many sources. Understanding what licenses we're using and what they require can prevent opening our companies or ourselves up to potential liabilities. Brian Rinaldi offers an overview of the various types of licenses typically associated with the software and code you may use in a given project, helping you stay aware and navigate the complexities.

Today’s applications are arguably the equivalent of a mashup in code. They are made up of code that comes from a variety of sources. For instance, they may use one or more frameworks and libraries, each of which may also may rely on hundreds of modules (e.g., npm or Ruby gems). Even portions the “original” code in a project may have originally been copy-pasted from documentation, a tutorial, or—gasp—Stack Overflow. We developers have become so comfortable with open source that we often make the mistake of not paying attention to the licenses of the software we are using. But not paying attention to licensing can open you and your company up to potential liabilities. Brian Rinaldi offers an overview of the various types of licenses typically associated with the software and code you may use in a given project, helping you stay aware and navigate the complexities.