On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 9:27 AM, Wheeler, David A <[email protected]> wrote:
> Philippe Ombredanne: > > > But SPDX is likely stuck with this inconsistent legacy and yes this is > hard to escape without creating more mess. It does not mean that we cannot > try to clarify and improve things. > > Sure, but I think "GPL-2.0" MUST continue to mean "GPL version 2.0 and no > other version", because that's the spec that everyone is depending on, this > is a common case, and this is the convention that all other license naming > systems also. Changing a key existing meaning in a standard is a bad thing. > > Perhaps SPDX should add an additional postfix operation like "!" to mean > "exactly this version and no other". Then encourage always using the > postfixes "+" or "!" in license expressions for licenses that have "or any > later version" text. E.G., "GPL-2.0!" might be the preferred way to > express "exactly GPL version 2.0" while "GPL-2.0+" would continue to mean > "GPL version 2.0 or later". Then you can deprecate license expressions > where a license uses "or any later version" text and omits a postfix (e.g., > "GPL-2.0" is a legal name of a license but a deprecated license > expression). You could even allow postfix "?" to mean it's unknown if > later versions are allowed or not, a plausible tool result. This would > mean that SPDX would need to track which licenses have "or later version" > text, to encourage people add the postfix operation, but that's easily done. Adding additional postfix operators is an interesting idea. We do need to keep the existing semantics we've got here in terms of how the licenses are expressed (and other communities like Fedora and Debian) already use them, or as you say, risk major confusion emerging. Improving this situation by adding "!" to be explicit is an elegant way of starting to be explicit - and transitioning to being more precise in the future. I'm not so sure about "?", but its certainly worth further discussion. Kate
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