[Verse 1] Sarah builds a website, needs some fancy code Finds a perfect library sitting on GitHub's road But the license says MIT, what does that really mean? Will lawyers knock her door down if she ships this to her team? [Chorus] MIT means freedom, take it anywhere you go Apache adds protection, patents cannot steal your show GPL's contagious, share your changes back around Three licenses that matter, keep your project safe and sound [Verse 2] MIT's the simplest choice, like candy from a store Just credit the creator, then you're free to do much more Sell it, change it, close it up, no strings attached at all But if problems hit your users, don't expect the author's call [Chorus] MIT means freedom, take it anywhere you go Apache adds protection, patents cannot steal your show GPL's contagious, share your changes back around Three licenses that matter, keep your project safe and sound [Verse 3] Apache brings insurance, shields you from patent wars If someone tries to sue you, this license guards your doors Contributors surrender their patent claims to you Commercial use is welcome, just preserve the copyright too [Chorus] MIT means freedom, take it anywhere you go Apache adds protection, patents cannot steal your show GPL's contagious, share your changes back around Three licenses that matter, keep your project safe and sound [Bridge] GPL's a different beast, it spreads like morning dew If you modify the code, your changes must be shared too Copyleft they call it, keeps the software truly free But mixing with proprietary code gets legally messy [Verse 4] Check dependencies carefully, read every license through One GPL component makes your whole project GPL too When building enterprise software, Apache's often best MIT works everywhere, but GPL protects the rest [Outro] Three guardians of the codebase, each with their own role Choose wisely for your project, let the license match your goal
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