So there is the LGPL, which might be a good choice for my libraries, but has similar restrictions to the GPL that I simply don't want to require people to adhere to.

I then found the CDDL, and I really liked the way it was written. It's unfortunate that it's incompatible with the GPL or it would be my top choice for pretty much everything. But it's not compatible, and I don't want to keep my software out of the hands of developers of GPL'd software.

None-the-less, the CDDL is one of the few file-based open source licenses, and one of my requirements for some of my software is that I need to mix in some commercial libraries which are obviously not open source. The best answer might be a dual-license model, but as far as I can tell, I wouldn't be able to mix in proprietary code with a GPL license, so the GPL version of those products would need to be severely crippled, which might not make sense to do at all.

The only course I can see clearly working is releasing the following:

• For libraries containing only open source code, dual-licensing the CDDL and LGPL (allowing GPL developers to choose the LGPL license, making it compatible)
• For applications containing only open source code, dual-licensing the CDDL and GPL, for the same reason as above
• For libraries or applications containing open source and proprietary code, licensing only under the CDDL is the only option. Nothing compatible with the GPL can contain proprietary code in my understanding.

For this reason, I will try to keep as much of my code as possible in the dual-licensed projects and available for all open source developers. However, many of my applications themselves will be mixed in with proprietary code, and this will be released only under the CDDL (with the proprietary code released under its own license, all fully documented).

Of course, all of my past work up until this point is still available and can continue to be used under the MIT license it came with. Most of my future code, however, will not be released under an MIT license. None-the-less, if you opt for the CDDL license on my future projects, it has the handy addition of allowing you to mix it in with any proprietary, closed source code that you want, as long as you keep the original code and any modified files based off of the original code under the CDDL.

Due to all the confusion and incompatibilities surrounding the current crop of open source licenses, I was very tempted to simply write my own. But that would just add to the confusion, so the best choice right now seems to be to play along while being as open as possible.

I will be sure to fully document on each project homepage the licensing model of the project and what it means for others wishing to redistribute the source code.

Related articles

• Is Copyleft Really Right for Open Source? (intridea.com)
• My take on open source licenses (spf13.com)
• Why the GPL Matters (avdi.org)
• Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software (gnu.org)

If anyone is interested in assisting with FOMS, here are the things I most need assistance with:

• Vector graphics - preferably in .xaml format (eg. MS Expression Design), but  .ai (Adobe Illustrator format) is fine too.
• Icons - FOMS has one icon -- it needs more themed icons for its various components
• Website work - falloutmodsorter.com needs a lot of work on its theme (css and graphics), and a webmaster or maintainer who can help me keep content fresh, manage the "community" (non-existent so far), etc.
• Marketing/advertising - FOMS 2 is open-source and will always be free, but we still need to let people know it's out there--without a large user base, FOMS can never grow to the one-stop Fallout 3 mod sorting application it could be.
• C# and/or XAML (WPF) coding--I'm currently doing everything in this field, but it is taking up all of my time and not allowing me to focus on any of the other aspects of the app (see above)

On another note, plurliquid is doing a great job on the new template so far, and it will make its official debut in FOMS 2 Alpha 2. This has given me a lot more time to work on the backend and get FOMS ready for the next release.

You will be seeing the new release very soon (as usual, several weeks late)!

Please bookmark the URL - http://singularityshift.com

I am managing the site and all projects that are currently there as of this time.

The main site is an open wiki format allowing all users to contribute equally to the direction of the site.

Each project gets a full Trac development site and Subversion repository, as well as web space, email, advertising, and more.

Feel free to post your project to the Wiki and I can create the development resources for it!