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I have developed a simple application which I want to put release for free but I'm not planning releasing the source code. I want the application to be freely available but I do not want anyone to sell it or reverse engineer it. MIT License looks simple and nice but it also allows anyone to sell it. Is there any license out there suitable for me or should I just modify MIT License?

Giorgi
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3 Answers3

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CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

The creative commons licenses were not intended for open source software in particular, but can be applicable to software still - and for such purposes. In essence your freeware program would be a work of art that you want to be shared freely. And the -noncommercial tag as well as the -noderivatives rule would match your intent.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

mario
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You want to give it away in binary but no sources, right? that's no Open Source, it's freeware (small 'f') MIT, GPL, CC, and so on are all Open Source licenses, used on source, no binaries.

If it's free but closed, it's still proprietary. Just be sure your download has high visibility and it won't be sold without your consent.

Javier
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EDIT: [If you don't mind making the source code available on request:] The GPL doesn't explicitly prevent selling the program, but it would require that the seller make the source code available, and tell the buyer that the source code is available. That might be enough to deter any attempts to sell the software. I'm not sure how anyone would be able to hide the fact that the program was also available for free.

An additional benefit of your using the GPL is that if someone else does improve your program and redistribute it, their changes would be available to you.