Software licence
The terms under which rights to software are granted.
What is a software licence?
A software licence establishes which rights are granted under which conditions, such as use, modification or redistribution. The particular licence determines the actual rights. Visible source code or a free download does not automatically permit arbitrary copying, modification and distribution. How a component is used and passed on can also matter to the obligations.
A fictional customer portal uses a third-party library. Before handover, the team records the component, version and applicable licence text, then checks the conditions for the planned use. Required notices and any other necessary documents belong in the handover. A technical dependency list does not replace that check. Open source does not establish identical obligations for every library either; the specific licence and use remain decisive.
Sources
Related terms
- Open sourceSoftware whose licence meets the freedoms and conditions defined for open source.
- Package managerA tool for obtaining and managing software packages, their versions and dependencies.
- Source codeThe readable, editable description of a program from which its behaviour is produced.
- Legacy systemAn existing system still in use, with technical and business dependencies accumulated over time.
- Multi-tenancyMulti-tenancy supports separate customer or group scopes in one solution. A tenant is not automatically one person or one database.
- Browser cacheThe browser cache stores suitable HTTP responses for later use. Reuse and revalidation follow the applicable rules.
Articles on this topic
Software Development with ASES
Custom software, web and mobile apps