On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 9:12 PM, Wheeler, David A <dwhee...@ida.org> wrote: > Philippe Ombredanne: >> This + is a suffix and not a freestanding character, right? >> Then again we would be better off to get rid of the plus entirely!
> You may be confusing a SPDX "license identifier" and a SPDX "license > expression". It's a subtle point. I am not confusing these at all. The gist of what I am saying is that the plus is a legacy that should not be there. It does not make sense to add to the large majority of GPL in the wild a + just to deal with a few exceptions that do not allow other versions. Exceptions should be dealt with an exception not with an extra + in an expression. > The purpose of a "license identifier" is to identify a specific text > of a specific license text, using a short name. In SPDX 2.0 there is > no "+" in a standard license identifier. In particular, "GPL-2.0" is > a license identifier, and "GPL-2.0+" is *NOT*. If all you want to do > is identify a particular license text, use a license identifier. No > "+"exists at the end of a license identifier. > > However, a "license identifier" is often inadequate for describing > the licensing requirements imposed on users and later developers. > Many packages have different subcomponents with different licenses. > Many packages include the text of some license (such as the GPL > version 2.0), but there are often two possible cases: > - You must use this particular version of the license. > - You may use this or any later version of the license. > Thus, SPDX 2.0 defines a "license expression" for describing how > license texts apply to software packages,. A license expression is > built out of license identifiers but adds ways to describe how the > license texts are used. A "+" appended after the name of a license > identifier means "or any later version may also be used". E.G., the > license expressions "(GPL-2.0+ WITH Classpath-Exception-2.0)" and > "(MIT AND BSD-3-CLAUSE)" express how the license text requirements > are imposed on recipients (users and developers). License expressions > use the long-standing convention is that if software is licensed > using "this or any later version" you add a "+" to the name of the > license. You can argue that the "+" should be the default, > but standards typically work best if they build on pre-existing > conventions, and that was certainly the case here. David: What you saying in substance is that every time I want state that code is licensed under the GPL 2.0 or any other version (which is the default), you want me to craft a special license expression with a plus. And If do not craft that expression, then the SPDX meaning is that only the current version applies and not any later version. I am saying this instead: Since the default for the GPL is to allow later versions, we should by default state the opposite: The few times that "only the current version" should be used, state this explicitly with an exception. You say: GPL-2.0 ==> implies GPL 2.0 only GPL-2.0+ ==> implies GPL 2.0 or later I say: GPL-2.0 ==> implies GPL 2.0 with its defaults (including later versions) GPL-2.0 with no-other-version ==> implies GPL 2.0 and no other version Explicit is better than implicit. My rationale: Practically the use of a GPL version "only" is much less frequent than the default "or later" and therefore forcing me to add a plus is a source of confusion. The most common use case should be the default and should not require a special addition of a character in an expression. "only" should be an exception and not the default, because it is not the default, nor the prevalent usage of the GPL: it is exceptional. The fact that the + convention has been used by Linux distros package maintainers and neither always strictly nor consistently does not make this right and something that should be endorsed blindly. So to recap: I am NOT arguing about the syntax to express this. I am arguing about the essence of the meaning of the plain GPL-2.0 license key in a simple expression. The mere use of a GPL-2.0 identifier should convey that the license is GPL-2.0 or any other version. We should have an exception to convey the rarer cases when only the stated version applies. The benefits are: 1. no ambiguity about the meaning of widely used licenses such as the GPL. 2. simpler spec 2. simpler expressions in most cases, more verbose and more explicit expressions when needed in some rarer cases. -- Cordially Philippe Ombredanne _______________________________________________ Spdx-tech mailing list Spdx-tech@lists.spdx.org https://lists.spdx.org/mailman/listinfo/spdx-tech
