After looking at the proposed code change, the "+" would not imply an
or-later operator for non-listed license ID's (a.k.a. license-refs).  

I can think of a use case that would not be satisfied if we make this change
to the parser:

Use Case - SPDX Document containing a non listed license that has both
specific version and or later cases
Actors - SPDX document creator, SPDX document consumer
Steps:
- Source code contains code under a non listed license
- A license-ref is created to represent that code
- Different code contains a reference to the non listed license with an "or
later version" clause
- A license expression is created with the license-ref and a "+" operator to
represent the or-later

I agree with Bill that the bug is in the spec - when we discussed
implementing the license expression language, we intended (or at least I
intended) for the same expressions to be used for listed and non-listed
licenses.

Gary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:spdx-tech-
> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Schuberth, Sebastian
> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 4:59 AM
> To: Bill Schineller
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: Is "+" a valid character of a LicenseRef idstring?
> 
> I was assuming something like that. However, technically there
> shouldn't be a reason to make "+" a reserved operator for idstrings. As
> idstrings (or license-refs) are no compound-expression as defined in
> Appendix IV it should be safe to just skip parsing idstrings / license-
> refs for "+".
> 
> I've make a proposal how to implement that as part of [1].
> 
> [1] https://github.com/spdx/tools/pull/66
> 
> Regards,
> Sebastian
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bill Schineller [mailto:[email protected]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 12:19
> > To: Schuberth, Sebastian <[email protected]>
> > Cc: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: Is "+" a valid character of a LicenseRef idstring?
> >
> > Methinks the current intention of spec writers is:
> >
> > + is now a reserved operator for the License Expression Syntax
> >
> > So therefore + should be illegal character in license idstring
> >
> > So inconsistency in this regard would seem to be a bug in the spec
> >
> > -Bill
> >
> > > On Oct 28, 2015, at 5:42 AM, Schuberth, Sebastian
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > when debugging an issue in the spdx-tools verifier, I noticed the
> > > SPDX 2.0
> > specs seem to be inconsistent on whether "+" is a valid character in
> a
> > LicenseRef's idstring, like in LicenseRef-[idstring].
> > >
> > > Sections 3.13.4 and 4.6.4 also refer to LicenseRefs and say
> > >
> > >    [idstring]  is  a  unique  string  containing  letters,
> numbers,  "."  or  "-"
> > >
> > > Yet section 5.1.4 explicitly says for the case of LicenseRef
> > >
> > >    [idstring]  is  a  unique  string  containing  letters,
> numbers,  ".",  "-"  or  "+"
> > >
> > > Is there any consensus? I'd vote for "+" to be valid in order to
> > > have
> > LicenseRefs like "LicenseRef-LGPL-3.0+".
> > >
> > > BTW: There's similar inconsistencies regarding DocumentRef
> > > idstrings, see
> > sections 2.6.4 vs. 3.13.4 / 4.6.4 and other places that refer to an
> SPDXID.
> > >
> > > Sebastian Schuberth
> > > Lead Engineer
> > > Open Source Governance, Chief Technology Office
> > > Mobile: +49 151 551 551 40
> > >
> > > HERE Berlin
> > > Invalidenstrasse 116
> > > 10115 Berlin
> > > 52° 31' 52" N. 13° 23' 5" E
> > > HERE, a Nokia company
> > >
> > > Place of Business: HERE Deutschland GmbH, Invalidenstrasse 116,
> > > 10115 Berlin, Germany - Commercial Register: Amtsgericht
> > > Charlottenburg, HRB 106443B - USt-IdNr.: DE 812 845 193 - Managing
> > > Directors: Michael
> > Bültmann, Robertus A.J. Houben CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE This e-mail and
> > any attachments hereto may contain information that is privileged or
> > confidential, and is intended for use only by the individual or
> entity
> > to which it is addressed. Any disclosure, copying or distribution of
> > the information by anyone else is strictly prohibited. If you have
> > received this document in error, please notify us promptly by
> responding to this e-mail. Thank you.
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Spdx-tech mailing list
> > > [email protected]
> > > https://lists.spdx.org/mailman/listinfo/spdx-tech
> _______________________________________________
> Spdx-tech mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.spdx.org/mailman/listinfo/spdx-tech

_______________________________________________
Spdx-tech mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.spdx.org/mailman/listinfo/spdx-tech

Reply via email to