Need a license file

[kellijohnson-NOAA]

❯ checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... WARNING
  Non-standard license specification:
    `use_mit_license()`, `use_gpl3_license()` or friends to pick a
    license

Can someone more well versed in NOAA policies help pick a license file or how we specify it is part of the public domain?

[k-doering-NOAA]

This is not my project, but wanted to provide some potential options! As long as it makes sense for all the collaborators, picking an open source license is probably appropriate. However, I am not a lawyer, so I don't understand all the legal implications of the options.

• It looks like there is currently a GPL3 license, which you could stick with. It is an open source license, but is a "copy-left", which is a little less permissive than MIT. copy left means projects that use your R package code also need a GPL license.
• Other more permissive options are MIT and the unlicense. The unlicense is fairly new, but probably as close in spirit to CC0 as possible, yet it is actually Open source initiative approved and intended for software (CC0 is not intended for software).
• I've heard Apache 2.0 used, but don't know much about it.