You can just slap a GPL license on the code and dump it on GitHub but it's not the best path forward because without an active community of contributors, the project is likely to languish and die.
You can find an existing software project with some common traits and offer SheetCam to become part of that project. Such as: FreeCAD (GPL version 2). You can build a community around SheetCam and join an existing open source software foundation. Such as: the Apache Software Foundation (Apache License 2.0). You first have to build the community, say, 5 to 10 volunteers to start, and not all from a single employer. (I'm a member and contribute to two ASF projects). Some open source projects have their own for-profit or non-profit entity; this is far more work and complexity and probably not what you want. Examples: the KiCad EDA suite, FreeBSD operating system, etc. On Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 8:27 AM Les Newell <les.new...@fastmail.co.uk> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I'm intending to retire some time this year and I am trying to decide > what to do with SheetCam. One option that I'm seriously considering is > making SheetCam open source (GPL). If this is too off topic for this > list please tell me. > > I really want to see SheetCam continue to be developed and improved. My > accountant thinks I'm nuts to even consider going open source but my > biggest concern with selling it is that I don't want to see it get > turned into a cash cow with very little development, pretty much the way > Mach3 ended up. > > While I have contributed to a few open source projects including > LinuxCNC I have never started one. To be successful an open source > project needs a strong leader or team of leaders. I don't want to be a > leader. I don't expect to just dump it on Github and walk away but I > also don't want to end up doing just as much work as I'm doing now. My > ideal scenario would be to recruit a team of core developers then > gradually reduce my involvement. The question is, am I likely to be able > to recruit those developers? > > Basically at the moment I'm looking for advice and opinions. > > Les > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
