Open source

Open source software must be:

• Readable: the source code for the program is freely accessible
• Modifiable: the program can be modified by anyone
• Redistributable: the program can be redistributed, modified or unmodified

In bioinformatics, some notable programs and libraries are open source, such as:

• BioPerl, BioJava, BioPython, and BioPHP
• Bioconductor
• EMBOSS

PHYLIP has the source code available, but it is not open source.

[edit] References

• Open Bioinformatics Foundation
• Bioinformatics Organization
• Wikipedia on Free open source bioinformatics projects
• Wikipedia on Open source software
• The Open Source Initiative