Why Teatime Ships Under the EUPL 1.2
Choosing a licence is one of those quiet decisions that quietly shapes how a project lives in the world. For Teatime, we felt right to settle on the European Union Public Licence, version 1.2, and this post will help you understand why.
The EUPL is a copyleft licence, which simply means that if you build on the code and share your version, you are asked to pass it along under the same friendly terms. The intent is not to restrict you. It is to keep the work open for the next person who comes along.
The part that makes it easy to live with
Copyleft licences sometimes carry a reputation for being awkward to combine with other projects. The EUPL takes a softer approach as it includes a compatibility clause. This means if you ever need to blend your work with something under the AGPL 3.0 or a handful of other well known licences, the licence steps aside gracefully and lets you relicense.
Written in your language, quite literally
The European Commission had the EUPL translated into every official language of the European Union, and each translation carries equal legal weight. If your native tongue is Dutch, Polish, or Portuguese, you can read the terms that govern your work in the words you actually think in. That is a rare kindness in a field that usually assumes English and leaves it there.
The licence is also recognised by the Open Source Initiative, so you are standing on solid, well travelled ground.
A comfortable home
If a permissive licence suits your project better, that is a perfectly good choice too. For Teatime, though, the EUPL felt like the right balance: open by default, easy to combine, and considerate enough to speak your language.
That is exactly the kind of quiet thoughtfulness this engine hopes to encourage.