I had an attempt at solving this in snapd with the attached patch. This passes through the "license" field from the store [1] and can make a search in gnome-software show this license field.
However, this field doesn't exist for installed snaps. This is because the snap metadata doesn't contain this field and instead contains differently defined license fields [2] (it refers to a license file, not a string). This needs some design input to progress. It seems to me that one of the following needs to occur: - The license file that is referred in the snap YAML would have to be copied into the store database. This file could then be accessed either from the store or from a locally installed snap. This has the downsides that common license (e.g. GPL) are hard to match (requires checking the whole license file) and extra data would need to be downloaded (as opposed to a short string). - The snap YAML would gain the license field as used in the store. The existing license file could remain for non-common / complex licenses. The downside of this is that existing snaps might have a license set in the store but not in the .snap file (searching in gnome-software would show a license but after install it would not). [1] http://search.apps.ubuntu.com/docs/#package [2] http://snapcraft.io/docs/build-snaps/syntax ** Patch added: "0001-Pass-through-license-field-from-the-store.patch" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-software/+bug/1555567/+attachment/4743358/+files/0001-Pass-through-license-field-from-the-store.patch ** Changed in: gnome-software (Ubuntu) Importance: Medium => High -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-software in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1555567 Title: License information from the store not being used Status in Snappy: Confirmed Status in Software Center Agent: New Status in gnome-software package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: While the store (and its API) has a field to specify the app's license, it seems to be ignored somewhere in its way to the client. As an example, ubuntu-calculator-app.ubuntucoredev has GPL3 set as its license in the store, yet in GNOME Software is tagged as "non-free" when listed in a search. Clicking on the package details in GNOME Software, the license type is shown as "Unknown" To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/snappy/+bug/1555567/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
