Hi All,
I have a newbie question. I read some articles on cryptocurrency in the last few days. I saw the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primecoin mentioned about “The Primecoin source code is distributed under the MIT/X11 software license”. while ppcoin is not.
Primecoin 0.1.2 BETA
====================
Copyright (c) 2013 Primecoin Developers
Distributed under conditional MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
file COPYING.
This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the [OpenSSL Toolkit](http://www.openssl.org/). This product includes
cryptographic software written by Eric Young ([eay@cryptsoft.com](mailto:eay@cryptsoft.com)), and UPnP software written by Thomas Bernard.
Intro
---------------------
Primecoin is a free open source cryptocurrency that implements the first
scientific computing proof-of-work for cryptocurrencies. The unique
proof-of-work design searches for rare prime formations, providing
experimental value for mathematicians to further understand the nature and
distribution related to prime number, a simple yet mysterious construct of
arithmetic that continues to baffle the top minds of mankind.
Upgrade
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Peercoin Official Development Repo
==================================
[](https://travis-ci.org/peercoin/peercoin)
[](https://peer4commit.com/projects/19)
### What is Peercoin?
[Peercoin](https://peercoin.net) (abbreviated PPC), previously known as PPCoin, is the first [cryptocurrency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency) design introducing [proof-of-stake consensus](https://peercoin.net/assets/paper/peercoin-paper.pdf) as a security model, with a combined [proof-of-stake](https://peercoin.net/assets/paper/peercoin-paper.pdf)/[proof-of-work](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof-of-work_system) minting system. Peercoin is based on [Bitcoin](https://bitcoin.org), while introducing many important innovations to cryptocurrency field including new security model, energy efficiency, better minting model and more adaptive response to rapid change in network computation power.
### Peercoin Resources
* Client and Source:
[Client Binaries](https://peercoin.net/download),
[Source Code](https://github.com/peercoin/peercoin)
* Documentation: [Peercoin Whitepaper](https://peercoin.net/whitepaper),
[Peercoin Wiki](https://github.com/peercoin/peercoin/wiki)
* Help:
[Forum](https://talk.peercoin.net),
[Intro & Important Links](https://talk.peercoin.net/t/what-is-peercoin-intro-important-links/2889)
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I want to understand the relationship between primecoin and MIT. Is it because primecoin is coded in MIT and not ppcoin?
It seems to me the source code of peercoin is under a general no-name, but free, license. I found it in the COPYING file in the root of the peercoin repo at github:
Copyright (c) 2011-2018 Peercoin Developers
Copyright (c) 2009-2013 Bitcoin Developers
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
Meaning: yes, Primecoin is under the MIT-license, while Peercoin is not.
Note that I’m a newbie too, so please verify my statements, but I thought I should share what I found.