← Everyone's take

TAKES · Ruth answers

Which license should we pick?

Which license should we pick?“GPL, like in 2009. It still works. So does that code.”Ruth Lindqvist, The Maintainer

💡 WHY RUTH IS RIGHT

Licenses outlive the people who choose them, so pick one with a long, tested history. The GPL has decades of case law, shared community understanding and projects that are still running, still patched and still free because nobody could take them private. New source-available licenses arrive with every funding cycle, and several have ended in forks and relicensing drama. The old copyleft license has already survived every scenario the team is worrying about.

✅ RIGHT WHEN

Longevity and keeping the code free matter more than corporate adoption.

🚩 TOO FAR WHEN

The project is a library meant to be embedded everywhere, and the GPL keeps it out of every product.

See all 12Ruth's profile