open-source

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See also: Open Source and open source

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

Etymology

See open source.

Pronunciation

Adjective

open-source (not comparable)

  1. (software) Of 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.
    • 2014, Jon Galloway, Brad Wilson, K. Scott Allen, David Matson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 5, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 10:
      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.
    • 2025 April 2, Bill Toulas, “Genetic data site openSNP to close and delete data over privacy concerns”, in BleepingComputer‎:
      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.
  2. (by extension) Describing any product whose composition or method of manufacturing is public knowledge and not proprietary.
    open-source cola
  3. (espionage) Relying on publicly available information (open sources).
    open-source intelligence
    • 2023 December 16, Eliot Higgins, “Moment of truth”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:
      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.

Antonyms

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Translations

Translations

See also

Verb

open-source (third-person singular simple present open-sources, present participle open-sourcing, simple past and past participle open-sourced)

  1. (transitive, computing) To release the source code of, so as to permit modification and redistribution.
    • 2005, David Brickner, Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds:
      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.
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