Choose WecOptTool license

[ryancoe]

I'm considering GNU GPLv3, any thoughts?

https://choosealicense.com

[ssolson]

I have no experience but remember Mat saying everyone uses GPL3 now. So I would lean that way.

[H0R5E]

I think there are two main issues to consider which are how it will be used in the future and what other code we might need to interface with.

If this code would be useful as a library (and you were happy for it to be used in a commercial setting) then a permissive licence like MIT, BSD etc is nice as it pretty much allows any future use. If you would prefer for this code to stay free, then a copy-left license like GPL is the way to go, as it will force any modified source code to also be open (when its published).

One thing that may force us into using GPL is that we may need to leverage (and I suspect this is very likely) other GPL codes. In this case it often obliges the user of GPL codes to be GPL as well.

In DTOcean, I was able to make some of the code MIT and the rest GPL, which was possible as its split accross a few packages, where some are more useful as libraries than others. I don't think this project is big enough yet to consider that, but maybe if we have some nice library code in the future, we could split it off as a seperate project under a more permissive license.

So, in conclusion, probably GPL for now and maybe think about it again later.

[ryancoe]

Will proceed w. GPL for time being, can reassess later, if necessary.

[ryancoe]

completed w/ e559fff

also added to git io pages w/ 0d2faa2

[kmruehl]

If you would like my input, I have a lot of thoughts on this. I think the GNU license will be a barrier for industry adoption.

Also, the copyright assertion needs to go through Sandia legal and be approved by Sandia and DOE prior to release of the code. This requires identification of a open source license (eg BSD, GNU) and information about the code to be submitted through the Sandia online system: https://webprod.sandia.gov/TAIPM/. Has this been done?