How Do I Get My Open Source Software Online?

[Emery Z. Balint Jr.]

Good day all,

I have recently spent almost 8 months continuously developing a bulletin
board system in J2EE. I want to get my software online and I've decided to
make it open source, but have a few questions in regards to that:

1. What would be a good place to put it online?
2. Are there any free servers out there where I could put a fully
functioning version up? This would be were people could ask me questions
about the program, share info with each other, etc...
3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

Thank you very much for any suggestions and help.

Emery.
/\^/\^/\
Take a Peek Behind My Lens
http://members.shaw.ca/emerysphotography/

 

[Roedy Green]

3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

e
If one of the existing ones suits, go for it. If someone challenges,
you may get legal help from the entire community. Further it has more
teeth than anything you could cook up on your own.

 

[Glen Low]

1. What would be a good place to put it online?

2. Are there any free servers out there where I could put a fully
functioning version up? This would be were people could ask me questions
about the program, share info with each other, etc...
SourceForge.

3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

Look at www.opensource.org and there are several other resources
comparing and contrasting the different open source licenses.

GPL has perhaps 60%-70% of all FLOSS code (by looking at SourceForge
and Freshmeat), its main feature is that it requires modifiers to
reciprocate code.

BSD is the other popular license, you retain copyright but people can
do (next to) anything with it, include keep their modifications
private.

Cheers,
Glen Low, Pixelglow Software
www.pixelglow.com

 

[Thomas Weidenfeller]

1. What would be a good place to put it online?

http://sourceforge.net/
http://community.java.net/projects/
http://savannah.gnu.org/

and many more.

3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

Better not, unless you have legal reasons to do so. The world is already
cluttered with free and pseudo-free software licenses. If one of the big
ones (GPL, BSD, Artistic) works for you, why create your own?

/Thomas

 

[Jesper Nordenberg]

Good day all,

I have recently spent almost 8 months continuously developing a bulletin
board system in J2EE. I want to get my software online and I've decided to
make it open source, but have a few questions in regards to that:

1. What would be a good place to put it online?
2. Are there any free servers out there where I could put a fully
functioning version up? This would be were people could ask me questions
about the program, share info with each other, etc...

Do you mean hosting the project or host which can run your J2EE
application? The following sites can host your project:

www.sourceforge.net is the biggest place for open source software.
www.java.net is also a good option.

I don't know of any site where you can host a J2EE application for
free.

3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

Don't create your own license unless you know exactly what you're
doing. LGPL and GPL are two good choices, but there are others
depending on how much rights you want to give the user of your
software. Look at these pages for more info:

http://www.opensource.org/licenses/
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html

/Jesper Nordenberg

 

[Roedy Green]

Better not, unless you have legal reasons to do so. The world is already
cluttered with free and pseudo-free software licenses. If one of the big
ones (GPL, BSD, Artistic) works for you, why create your own?

one of the other advantages of using an existing one is people know
and understand it. They don't need to hire a lawyer to figure out the
catches.

 

[Roedy Green]

http://sourceforge.net/
http://community.java.net/projects/
http://savannah.gnu.org/

and many more.

see my list at http://mindprod.com/jgloss/sourceforge.html

 

[Rob Shepherd]

Good day all,

I have recently spent almost 8 months continuously developing a bulletin
board system in J2EE. I want to get my software online and I've decided to
make it open source, but have a few questions in regards to that:

1. What would be a good place to put it online?

try hosting the source via the methods mentioned previuosly,

but do have a demo version running some where on the web, and display the user and admin
passwords so people can try out a live version (with admin functions) without having to
download it, copy it to the server, unpack it, configure it, you get the idea.

Most people who administer sites do not want to spend ages on this, so a simple trial is
perfect as long as they can see all the features.

http://www.opensourcecms.com would do this for you, had you coded it in php/mysql

but all you need to do is refresh the database backend to a known state, every couple of
hours or so, so future users/website admins can really give your trial a good hammering
without having to worry about breaking it for good.

Good luck

hth

Rob

 

[Emery Z. Balint Jr.]

Thank you all for your help. I will be looking into the information
given. Sourceforge is the most likely place I'll be uploading to.

Once all that is online, I'll post here again and let everyone know
where ya'all can play with the code.

Emery.
/\^/\^/\
Take a Peek Behind My Lens
http://members.shaw.ca/emerysphotography/

 

[David Segall]

Good day all,

I have recently spent almost 8 months continuously developing a bulletin
board system in J2EE. I want to get my software online and I've decided to
make it open source, but have a few questions in regards to that:

1. What would be a good place to put it online?
2. Are there any free servers out there where I could put a fully
functioning version up? This would be were people could ask me questions
about the program, share info with each other, etc...

If it's Open Source then see www.sourceforge.net.

3. Lastly, I still want to retain copyright of my code, That's not Open Source.
but at the same time
permit people to modify it. So would the GNU PL be good for this, or should
I create my own?

Maybe one of Microsoft's licences would suit you.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/Licensing/default.mspx.
I should add that unless you have the legal muscle of Microsoft then,
if you want to protect your code, do not share it with anyone.