License selection¶

Repo Standards supports mixed public, private, open-source, and proprietary repositories.

License choices should be intentional. Repo Standards can help record and apply the choice, but it does not provide legal advice.

If unsure, choose manual review.

Recommended choices¶

Permissive open-source¶

License	Notes
`MIT`	Simple permissive license commonly used for libraries and apps
`Apache-2.0`	Permissive license with explicit patent grant
`BSD-2-Clause`	Simple permissive BSD variant
`BSD-3-Clause`	Permissive BSD variant with non-endorsement clause
`ISC`	Short permissive license similar in effect to MIT

File-level copyleft¶

License	Notes
`MPL-2.0`	File-level copyleft; useful when changes to covered files should remain open

Strong copyleft¶

License	Notes
`GPL-3.0-only`	Strong copyleft license
`AGPL-3.0-only`	Strong copyleft with network-use provisions

Closed or internal¶

Choice	Notes
`proprietary`	Private or closed-source repositories
`none` / `unlicensed`	No explicit license grant; use with care
`other` / `manual review`	Use when the correct license is unclear

Wizard behavior¶

The wizard asks:

Which license should this repository use?

Recommended choices:

MIT
Apache-2.0
BSD-2-Clause
BSD-3-Clause
ISC
MPL-2.0
GPL-3.0-only
AGPL-3.0-only
proprietary
none / unlicensed
other / manual review

The wizard does not change license terms without explicit user selection.

Public repositories¶

Public repositories should normally have an explicit license.

Example:

visibility: public
license: Apache-2.0
license_policy:
  source: wizard
  review_required: false

If no license decision has been made:

visibility: public
license: other
license_policy:
  source: wizard
  review_required: true
  notes: "Manual license review required before publishing."

Private repositories¶

Private repositories should not accidentally receive open-source licenses.

Example:

visibility: private
license: proprietary
license_policy:
  source: wizard
  review_required: false

Migration rule¶

During migration:

preserve existing license files unless explicitly changing license
warn when .repo-policy.yml and license files disagree
require explicit confirmation before creating or replacing a license file
default uncertain cases to manual review