It's been about a year since Fedora switched from the Callaway system [1] to the use of SPDX identifiers for purposes of package license metadata and license classification, along with the publication of significantly revamped and rationalized documentation relating to Fedora legal issues [2]. This provides a good opportunity to look back and identify any aspect of those changes that is not working well or could use reformulation or other improvement. The only things I see as 'closed' are: 1. Use of SPDX expressions in place of Callaway notation (for the specific purposes for which Callaway notation was used in the past). Despite the faults and limitations of SPDX, at this point I can't see how a return to the Callaway system would be justified, and there is no viable alternative license expression system that I'm aware of. I also think overall the migration to SPDX has been pretty successful thus far. 2. Rejection of undefined standards or methodologies for license characterization, particularly the application of "effective license theory". At least, I haven't yet seen any viable proposal for a well-defined set of rules around so-called effective licenses. 3. The principle that SPDX identifiers should mean approximately what the SPDX group seems to understand them to mean, bearing in mind that SPDX itself may have some contradictory or non-well-defined assumptions about this. For example, I would not want to see a superficial use of SPDX identifiers where, in reality, Fedora was cryptically forking that part of the SPDX spec to significantly redefine what particular SPDX identifiers are supposed to mean. There are a few specific issues that I plan to call attention to in one or more separate threads but any thoughts on this are very welcome. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callaway_system [2] https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/legal/ Richard _______________________________________________ legal mailing list -- legal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to legal-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/legal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
