Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Open source refers to software whose source code is freely available for anyone to view, modify, and distribute. It encourages collaboration and community-driven development.
Related terms
GitHub: GitHub is a popular platform for hosting and collaborating on open source projects.
Forking: Forking refers to creating a copy of an open source project to start an independent development path.
License: Open source licenses define the terms under which the software can be used, modified, and distributed.