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According to the FSF, “free software is the software that grants the user the freedom to share, study and modify it.”
According to them, free software is a matter of freedom, not price. According to FSF, a free software must also stick to
the four pillars of freedom which are:

• The freedom to execute the software for any purpose without any restrictions. (Freedom 0)
• The freedom to study how the software works and alter it according to your needs and preferences. So, providing
free access to the source code becomes a prerequisite for this. (Freedom 1)
• The freedom to freely re-distribute the software to assist the concerned user for free or charging nominally. (Freedom 2)
• The freedom to upgrade the software and release one’s improvement for free or for a nominal fee, for the entire
community (programmers and users included) to benefit. For this also, providing free access to the source code
became a prerequisite. (Freedom 3)

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) believes that software should be free to use, study, modify and distribute. They
argue that software freedom is essential for user control, collaboration and innovation. The FSF supports open-source
software, where the code is available for everyone to improve or adapt as needed.

13.8.8 Open-Source Software
Open-Source Initiative (OSI) was founded by Raymond and Bruce Perens to encourage the use of the new term as
well as the spread of open-source principles. OSI also developed the Open-Source Definition, a list of ten principles to
which a software’s license must adhere to, to be considered an open-source software. The ten principles of the Open-
Source Definition are:
• Free Redistribution: The license does not restrict any party from redistributing a part or whole of the software.
• Source Code: The program must include the source code and must allow distribution of the same in both forms, as
the source code and in the compiled form.
• Derived Works: The license must allow modifications and derived works and must allow them to be distributed
under the same terms as in the license of the original software.
• Integrity of the Author’s Source Code: The license permits source-code to be distributed in the modified form only
with a different name or version number than the original software.
• No Discrimination against Persons or Groups: The license must not discriminate against any person or particular group.
• No Discrimination based on Fields of Endeavor: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the
program belonging to a separate field of endeavor.
• Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed.
• License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program
being a part of a particular software distribution.
• License Must Not Restrict Other Software: The license must not place restrictions on other software which may be
distributed along with the licensed software.
• License Must Be Technology-Neutral: No provision of the license may be dependent on any individual technology
or style of interface.

13.8.9 Types of Licenses for Free and Open-Source Software
Some popular licenses for free software are given below:
• The BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) License: They are a set of permissive free
software license which apply limited restrictions on the use and redistribution of the
software. Redistribution and use with or without modification, are allowed as per
three clauses in the BSD licence:
Clause 1: Redistributions of source code must retain Copyright <YEAR> <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> notice, list of conditions
and a disclaimer.

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