A few thoughts inline below.
Thanks,
Jilayne
On 2/7/22 9:52 PM, Richard Fontana
wrote:
sounds like a potential other thread ;)Greetings, As part of some ongoing efforts to improve information relating to Fedora licensing and licensing policy, we want to provide better documentation around the various license approval categories for Fedora, as currently set forth here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:Main but which probably will live in the future on docs.fedoraproject.org. Here's a rough draft which I wanted to publish here for review. Feedback/criticisms/suggestions welcome. Side note: This preserves Tom Callaway's historical usage of "good" to mean "Fedora-approved", but I have mixed feelings about this terminology. 1. Licenses for Code “Code” means software code, any other functional material whose principal purpose is to control or facilitate the building of packages, such as an RPM spec file, and other kinds of material that the Fedora Council has classified as "code" rather than "content", but does not include font files. [Comment: This annoyingly and confusingly does not line up with definitions in the FPCA, but Fedora should get rid of the FPCA anyway]
maybe a bit more here on the criteria for this determination?A license for code is “good” if the Fedora Project determines that the license is a free/libre//open source license.
You have a statement for each category below like, "Any license that is good for code is also good for documentation."
maybe add here something similar like, "Any license that is good for code is good to be used for anything included in Fedora"
(now I maybe see your point about "good" - it makes the sentence a bit odd)
I think this is interesting background, but maybe better for a section on history or background, or at the bottom of the page, so it doesn't distract from the key info here?[Not sure if it's helpful to add the following:] In making this determination, Fedora historically relied primarily on the Free Software Definition as maintained and interpreted by the Free Software Foundation, but out of necessity Fedora passed judgment on many licenses never addressed by the FSF and, in the process, built up an informal body of interpretation and policymaking (admittedly, mostly undocumented) that went far beyond what the FSF had done. Fedora has also sometimes considered the decisions of other community Linux distributions and other important efforts to define and apply FLOSS norms, most notably the OSI’s Open Source Definition. In a small number of cases, Fedora has disagreed with decisions of the FSF and OSI regarding whether particular licenses are FLOSS.
If a good license for documentation meets the same criteria as for code, then do we even need this category or differentiation?2. Licenses for Documentation Any license that is good for code is also good for documentation. In addition, Fedora may designate a license as good for documentation if (a) the license meets the standards for good licenses for code, (b) the license is designed primarily for technical documentation or otherwise has a history of substantial use in free software communities for documentation, and (c) the license is not commonly or normally used for code. [Comment: this feels unsatisfactory to me, for multiple reasons, but I think it does accurately represent the historical Fedora policy.]
Where does it matter for a package maintainer or user of Fedora to know that a license is good-for-documentation (as opposed to simply "good")?
should we add something like, "any license that is good for content is only good for content"?3. Licenses for Content “Content” means any material that is not code, documentation, fonts or binary firmware. Any license that is good for code is also good for content.
same comment as for contentIn addition, Fedora may designate a license as good for content if it restricts or prohibits modification but otherwise meets the standards for good licenses for code. 4. Licenses for Fonts Any license that is good for code is also good for fonts.
maybe there should be a final category:In addition, Fedora may designate a license as good for fonts if it contains a nominal prohibition on resale or distribution in isolation but otherwise meets the standards for good licenses for code. 5. Licenses for Binary Firmware Some applications, drivers, and hardware require binary-only firmware to boot Fedora or function properly. Fedora permits inclusion of these files if they meet certain requirements [currently set forth at: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:Main#Binary_Firmware but the non-license part of this needs to move somewhere else ]. Any license that is good for code is also good for binary firmware. In addition, Fedora may designate a particular firmware license as good for firmware if the terms in the license that would not be acceptable in a good code license are limited to the following: * Requirements that the firmware be redistributed only as incorporated in the redistributor's product (or as a maintenance update for existing end users of the redistributor's product), possibly limited further to those products of the redistributor that support or contain the hardware associated with the licensed firmware * Requirements that the redistributor to pass on or impose conditions on users that are no more restrictive than those authorized by Fedora itself with respect to firmware licenses * Prohibitions on modification, reverse engineering, disassembly or decompilation * Requirements that use be in conjunction with the hardware associated with the firmware license
6. bad licenses
Any license that does not meet any of the above criteria.
A bad license my not be used in Fedora.
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