Open Source Software Licenses: A Comparative Analysis of GPL, MIT, and Apache Manjunath S Rakaraddi, Bhairam V Pawar, Rahul M, Raviteja Javali,

Abstract: Open-source software licensing plays a vital role in modern software development by defining the legal permissions, responsibilities, and limitations associated with the use, modifi-cation, and distribution of software. Among the numerous open-source licenses available, the GNU General Public License (GPL), MIT License, and Apache License 2.0 are widely adopted due to their distinct licensing models and practical significance in both academic and industrial environments. This paper presents a comparative study of these three major open-source licenses by analyzing their features, permissions, restrictions, distribution policies, and patent considerations. The GPL license emphasizes software freedom through its copyleft approach, requiring deriva-tive works to remain open source, whereas the MIT License pro-vides maximum flexibility with minimal restrictions. The Apache License 2.0 combines permissive licensing with explicit patent protection, making it suitable for commercial and enterprise applications. The study highlights the advantages, limitations, and real-world applications of each license to help developers, researchers, and organizations select appropriate licensing strate-gies for software projects. The analysis demonstrates that the choice of an open-source license significantly impacts software collaboration, legal compliance, commercial adoption, and long-term project sustainability.

Keywords: Open-source software, GPL, MIT License, Apache License 2.0, software licensing, copyleft, permissive licenses, patent protection, software compliance