Software licensing

software distributed under terms that allow users to freely run, study, change and distribute it and modified versions

software that anyone is free to use and redistribute in its current state with a permissive licence giving a libre access to its original source code (but not necessarily to modify it)

governs the use and/or redistribution of software

Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines freeware unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the freeware it offers. For instance, modification, redistribution by third parties, and reverse engineering are permitted by some publishers but prohibited by others. Unlike with free and open-source software, which are also often distributed free of charge, the source code for freeware is typically not made available. Freeware may be intended to benefit its produ

software that is both free (as in freedom) and open-source

computer software released under a license restricting use, study or redistribution

Shareware is proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the owner. Shareware is often offered as a download from a website. Shareware differs from freeware, which is fully-featured software distributed at no cost to the user but without source code being made available; and free and open-source software, in which the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect and alter.

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Donationware is a licensing model that supplies fully operational unrestricted software to the user and requests an optional donation be paid to the programmer or a third-party beneficiary (usually a non-profit). The amount of the donation may also be stipulated by the author, or it may be left to the discretion of the user, based on individual perceptions of the software's value. Since donationware comes fully operational (i.e. not crippleware/freemium) when payment is optional, it is a type of freeware.

term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution

license validation procedure that some proprietary software uses

thumb|right|The Vim text editor is an example of careware. This is Vim's about screen. Careware (also called charityware, helpware, or goodware) is software licensed in a way that benefits a charity. Some careware is distributed free, and the author suggests that some payment be made to either a nominated charity, or a charity of the user's choice. Commercial careware, on the other hand, includes a levy for charity on top of the distribution charge. Careware can also involve a barter of some kind, or even a pledge to be kind to strangers.

Multi-licensing is the practice of distributing software under two or more different sets of terms and conditions. This may mean multiple different software licenses or sets of licenses. Prefixes may be used to indicate the number of licenses used, e.g. dual-licensed for software licensed under two different licenses.

the practice of selling a license authorizing one computer program to be used on a large number of computers or by a large number of users

electronic copy protection and content protection device

special form of license management

document or seal certifying the authenticity of something

software distributed with its source code

contract

Computer virus