📜 LICENSE CLASS: 📖 SOURCE-AVAILABLE
Executive Summary: What is it?
The Business Source License 1.1 (BSL or BUSL) is a "Source Available" license, NOT an Open Source license (according to OSI definitions). It grants the right to copy, modify, create derivative works, redistribute and make non-production use of the code. Production use is allowed only as far as the licensor's Additional Use Grant permits, and each licensor writes its own, so read it before you deploy.
For example, a grant might permit production use by organizations under a set annual revenue, such as $5 million, or any production use except offering the software as a competing hosted service.
Key Feature: The "Time Bomb"
Each version converts to an Open Source license, its Change License, on its Change Date. The licensor sets that date, and it falls at the latest on the fourth anniversary of the version's first public release.
CFO / Business Impact
- License Fee: None for non-production use, or for the production use the Additional Use Grant permits. Any other production use needs a commercial license from the licensor, on the licensor's terms.
- Commercial Risk: The grant decides what you may do in production. A use outside it ends your rights under the license, for the current version and every other version of the code.
- Exit Strategy: Each version converts to its Change License (GPL 2.0 or later, or a GPL-compatible license chosen by the licensor) on its Change Date, at the latest four years after its first public release, which supports long-term digital sovereignty.