open-source

alternative open source · alternative opensource

1. not comparablecomputingOf or relating to software where the source code is freely available and licensed in a manner that permits modification and redistribution.

   Linux is an open-source operating system.

   2 more examples

   ASP.NET MVC has been under an open-source license since the initial release, but it was just open-source code instead of a full open-source project.

   2014, Jon Galloway, Brad Wilson, K. Scott Allen, David Matson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 5, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 10

   OpenSNP constituted a rare example of how open-source projects can successfully operate on a low budget, having repeatedly rejected offers from corporations to sell control of the data.

   2025 April 2, Bill Toulas, “Genetic data site openSNP to close and delete data over privacy concerns”, in BleepingComputer

2. not comparablecomputingOf or relating to digital resources made publicly available alongside their source files to enable their modification and redistribution.

   open-source fonts

   1 more example

   open-source hardware (with editable CAD files)

3. broadlynot comparableDescribing any product whose composition or method of manufacturing is public knowledge and not proprietary.

   open-source cola

   1 more example

   open-source hardware (schematics provided for free)

4. not comparableespionageRelying on publicly available information (open sources).

   open-source intelligence

   1 more example

   The ramifications of disinformation spill on to the streets with tangible, often devastating real-world consequences. These processes were already under way in 2014, when I founded the open-source investigative group Bellingcat.

   2023 December 16, Eliot Higgins, “Moment of truth”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1

present singular third person open-sources · participle present open-sourcing · participle past open-sourced · past open-sourced · alternative open source · alternative opensource

1. transitivecomputingTo release the source code of, so as to permit modification and redistribution.

   The big Unix company Sun Microsystems bought the code for StarOffice in 1999, and some time afterward they open-sourced as much of it as they could.

   2005, David Brickner, Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds