The CERN Open Hardware Licence (OHLorCERN OHL) is an open-source hardware licence[a] created by CERN. The licence comes in three variants: strongly reciprocal[b] (CERN-OHL-S), weakly reciprocal (CERN-OHL-W), and permissive (CERN-OHL-P).
The CERN OHL licence was created as an initiative of the members of the Open Hardware Repository, a knowledge-exchange project of electronics designers working in experimental-physics laboratories, founded by CERN engineers, to regulate the use of the designs published by CERN.[2][3]
Version 1.0 was published in March 2011. Following community feedback, Version 1.1 was published in July 2011 to follow the generally accepted principles of the free and open-source movements and make it easier for use by entities other than CERN.[3][4]
Version 1.2, published in September 2013, removed the obligation for licensees that modified a CERN OHL-licensed design to notify upstream licensors about the changes and introduced a notion of "Documentation Location" to guarantee hardware recipients access to the design documents. The license's text ceased to single out Intergovernmental Organizations such as CERN, making them the same as any other licensor or licensee.[5][6]
Version 2.0, published in March 2020, simplified the licence's terminology and divided it into three variants: strongly reciprocal (CERN-OHL-S), weakly reciprocal (CERN-OHL-W), and permissive (CERN-OHL-P). The license's range was broadened to include artistic, mechanical, and electronic designs, as well as adapting it to cases such as application-specific integrated circuits, field-programmable gate arrays, and even software.[7][8]
The CERN OHL is an accepted free content licence according to the Free Cultural Works definition,[9] and Version 2.0 is approved by the Open Source Initiative.[10]
On the CERN OHL website they have a list of projects using their licence.[11] These projects include:
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| Large Hadron Collider (LHC) |
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| Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) |
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| Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) |
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| Proton Synchrotron (PS) |
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| Linear accelerators |
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| Other accelerators |
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| ISOLDE facility |
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| Non-accelerator experiments |
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| Future projects |
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| Related articles |
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