[Fedora-packaging] Proposal: Standardized License tags

[Stephen John Smoogen]

On 6/14/06, Tom 'spot' Callaway <tcallawa at redhat.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-06-14 at 15:18 -0600, Stephen John Smoogen wrote:
> > As of this morning, the Fedora Core and Extras repositories have 2884
> > src.rpm packages in them. Going through them, there are 191 different
> > licenses listed.. many of them variants of the same name (and
> > sometimes a mis-spelling). Some of the names are useful, and others
> > are odd:
> >
> > libselinux -- License: Public domain (uncopyrighted)
>
> Isn't this due to unique restrictions around NSA generated source code?
>

Yes. I think it comes under a special exemption for certain US
Government written code.. BUT I am not sure.

> > Something like
> >
> > GNU GPL version 2 or higher [see /usr/share/fedora-licenses/GPL_v2]
> > GNU LGPL version 2 or higher [see /usr/share/fedora-license/LGPL_v2]
> > GNU GPL version 2 ONLY [see /usr/share/fedora-licenses/GPL_v2]
> > Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 2.0 [see
> > /usr/share/fedora-licenses/MPL_2.0]
>
> Do we really need to overload this License field with all that? I'd
> prefer:

No I do not.. I do wish to have a standard place for Licenses to help
deal with searching for the LGPL Copying that Firefox should have
because it is covered under the MPL and LGPL. I know i have copies of
the LGPL elsewhere.. but knowing that it is in one spot would help.

>
> GPL version 2 or higher
> LGPL version 2 or higher
> GPL version 2
> MPL version 2.0
>
> Where the syntax is:
>
> $LICENSE_SHORT_NAME version $LICENSE_VERSION or higher
>

I was wondering about that. Some code has things like GPL v2 ONLY and
some has GPL v2 or higher and some just says GPL version 2.

> > it would also help to have something more clear on the packages listed
> > as Distributable (all ~100 of them).. having to figure out the
> > restrictions on each one is a pain.
>
> Yeah, we should audit the "Distributable" packages. Got a list of those?
>

Canna -- License: Distributable
FreeWnn -- License: Distributable
adjtimex -- License: distributable
aspell-en -- License: distributable
aspell-nl -- License: distributable
awesfx -- License: GPL/distributable
bin2iso -- License: Distributable (Unknown)
bitmap-fonts -- License: distributable
bitstream-vera-fonts -- License: Redistributable, with restrictions
blacs -- License: Freely distributable
bwidget -- License: Distributable
cleanfeed -- License: distributable
conserver -- License: Distributable
cyrus-sasl -- License: Freely Distributable
dejavu-fonts -- License: Redistributable, with restrictions
dhcp -- License: distributable
diffstat -- License: distributable
docbook-dtds -- License: Distributable
docbook-simple -- License: Distributable
docbook-style-dsssl -- License: Distributable
docbook-style-xsl -- License: Distributable
dos2unix -- License: Freely distributable
epic -- License: Distributable
erlang-esdl -- License: Distributable
eruby -- License: distributable
file -- License: distributable
fonts-ISO8859-2 -- License: Freely distributable
fonts-KOI8-R -- License: distributable
fonts-japanese -- License: Distributable
fonts-korean -- License: Distributable
freeze -- License: Distributable
gnuplot -- License: Redistributable, with restrictions
h2ps -- License: Distributable
hunky-fonts -- License: Redistributable, with restrictions
jadetex -- License: Distributable
jam -- License: Distributable
jlint -- License: Distributable
kinput2 -- License: Distributable
kon2 -- License: distributable
krb5 -- License: MIT, freely distributable.
krbafs -- License: Freely Distributable
lapack -- License: Freely distributable
libjpeg -- License: distributable
libtabe -- License: Redistributable
libtiff -- License: distributable
linuxdoc-tools -- License: Freely distributable
lv -- License: distributable
macutils -- License: Distributable
man-pages -- License: distributable
man-pages-cs -- License: Distributable
man-pages-da -- License: Distributable
man-pages-de -- License: Distributable
man-pages-es -- License: Distributable
man-pages-fr -- License: Distributable
man-pages-it -- License: Distributable
man-pages-ja -- License: Distributable
man-pages-pl -- License: Distributable
man-pages-ru -- License: Distributable
mathml-fonts -- License: Distributable
mgopen-fonts -- License: Redistributable, with restrictions
mod_auth_pam -- License: Distributable
ncftp -- License: Distributable
ncompress -- License: distributable
ncurses -- License: distributable
nhpf -- License: Distributable
ntp -- License: distributable
openjade -- License: Distributable
opensp -- License: Distributable
paraview -- License: Distributable
perl-Crypt-Blowfish -- License: Distributable
perl-File-MMagic -- License: Distributable
perl-Mail-Sender -- License: Distributable
perl-Mail-Sendmail -- License: Distributable
perl-TermReadKey -- License: Distributable
perl-Time-modules -- License: Distributable
ppp -- License: distributable
psutils -- License: distributable
pvm -- License: freely distributable
python-imaging -- License: Distributable
python-numarray -- License: Distributable
qhull -- License: Distributable
ruby-mysql -- License: Distributable
scalapack -- License: Freely distributable
symlinks -- License: distributable
t1utils -- License: Distributable
tcp_wrappers -- License: Distributable
tcsh -- License: distributable
tetex -- License: distributable
tetex-font-kerkis -- License: Distributable
tin -- License: Distributable
torque -- License: Freely redistributable (See PBS_License.txt)
transfig -- License: distributable
ttf2pt1 -- License: Distributable
udunits -- License: Freely distributable (BSD-like)
ufsparse -- License: Distributable
unix2dos -- License: distributable
uqm-content -- License: Distributable
util-linux -- License: distributable
vixie-cron -- License: distributable
wings -- License: Distributable
xinetd -- License: Distributable (BSD-like)
zasx -- License: GPL and freely distributable content
zip -- License: distributable
zoo -- License: Distributable


> ~spot
> --
> Tom "spot" Callaway: Red Hat Senior Sales Engineer || GPG ID: 93054260
> Fedora Extras Steering Committee Member (RPM Standards and Practices)
> Aurora Linux Project Leader: http://auroralinux.org
> Lemurs, llamas, and sparcs, oh my!
>
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>


-- 
Stephen J Smoogen.
CSIRT/Linux System Administrator