Licensing Your Code: GPL, BSD and Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” by Bruce Berriman.
From the post:
I have for some time considered changing to a more permissive license (with Caltech’s approval) for the Montage image mosaic engine, as the the current license forbids modification and redistribution of the code. My first attempt at navigating the many licenses available led me to believe that the subject of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” was not oppressed by society but simply trying to find the best license for his software.
The license, of course, specifies the terms and conditions under which the software may be used, distributed and modified, and distinctions between licenses are important. Trouble is, there are so many of them. The Wikipedia page on Comparison of Free and Open Source Licenses licenses lists over 40 such licenses, each with varying degrees of approval from the free software community.
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Not that I have any code to release but I assume the same issues apply to releasing data sets.
Do not to leave licensing of code or data as “understood” or to “later” in a project. Interests and levels of cooperation may vary over time.
Best to get data and code licensing details in writing when everyone is in a good humor.