10:35 a.m.
This is really helpful, Richard!
A few thoughts inline below.
Thanks,
Jilayne
On 2/7/22 9:52 PM, Richard Fontana wrote:
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]
sounds like
a potential other thread ;)
A license for code is “good” if the Fedora Project determines that the
license is a free/libre//open source license.
maybe a bit more here on the criteria
for this determination?
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)
[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.
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?
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.]
If a good license
for documentation meets the same criteria as for code,
then do we even need this category or differentiation?
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")?
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.
should we add something
like, "any license that is good for content is
only good for content"?
In 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.
same comment as for
content
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
maybe there should be a final category:
6. bad licenses
Any license that does not meet any of the above criteria.
A bad license my not be used in Fedora.
Richard
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