Open-source is a human-made model of collaborative creation governed by explicit permission grants. Parameters: (1) source material (software, design, content) made publicly accessible, (2) legal licenses granting rights to use, modify, and redistribute, (3) community norms of reciprocity and shared improvement, (4) distribution mechanisms (version control, package registries, repositories) enabling access. Persistence mechanism: legal license texts, version control systems, and distributed community practice maintain the model across time and participants. [formal: aperta creatio | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
open-source
Open-source is a human-made model of collaborative creation governed by explicit permission grants. Parameters: (1) source material (software, design, content) made publicly accessible, (2) legal licenses granting rights to use, modify, an…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made institutional-legal construct: a model of collaborative development and distribution where creators grant others the rights to use, modify, and share their work under published licenses. Built to persist through legal frameworks (copyright licenses such as GPL, MIT, Apache), community norms of reciprocity, and distribution platforms.
Names and aliases
- open-sourceen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmsaawx5r038n7skq7o1jqh2wSERVES →
Open-source IS built for the sake of transparency — its designed purpose is to make software development visible, auditable, and accessible to all. The servant (open-source) points at the master (transparency) per Law 8d.
- cmru5nrqe003sr671qxjyxhiqINSTANCE_OF →
open-source is a specific kind of model — a model of software development and distribution where source code is made publicly available under licenses permitting modification and redistribution. It is a recognized model for organizing software creation and sharing.
- cmr92gz020056hcxfe7y8xg4aINSTANCE_OF →
Open-source is a specific type of software license that grants broad permissions for use, modification, and distribution. A competent speaker would call open-source 'a software license.' Files against the nearest kind.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 2, 2026, 3:41 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 305e423705ca374be68a44915ce501a526ed07e836c99920531b443862c8838c