Use of an OS License - Contribution

[Wilson, Andrew]

Alvin Borromeo wrote: 

> This may be (or not) a basic question.  Let's say I have software that
> I want to release using an open source license.  And for argument's
> sake, let's say I select the Eclipse Public License for release.  Can
> I just slap the EPL onto my program and release, or would I have to
> get "approval" from the Eclipse Foundation.  Assuming that I don't
> need approval, what would be the benefit of releasing the program
> without going through the Eclipse Foundation?

At last, a basic question! Thanks.  This list can get rather esoteric at
times.
No, you don't need permission from the Eclipse Foundation to use their
license, and you can indeed just "slap the EPL onto your program
and release."

Not to say that your program would then become part of the mainline
version of Eclipse itself ... all open source projects have policies
about how to submit code, and who decides which submissions get into the
mainstream version, so to become part of Eclipse you must
work through their maintainers ... but I don't think that's the question
you were asking.

Andy Wilson
Intel Open Source Technology Center