- REUSE - FSFE Mailinglists

Addressing some papercuts in the specification
by Drew DeVault 28 Dec '21

28 Dec '21

Hi! I'm trying to adapt REUSE to my projects, but I find the per-file headers to be a bit verbose and uncomfortable to read or write. It seems that, on the spectrum from machine-readable to human-readable, these have landed too far to the former. I am instead using a modified approach in my projects, which, for example, looks like so: // License-Id: GPL-3.0-only // Copyright: 2019 Drew DeVault <sir(a)cmpwn.com> // Copyright: 2019 Haelwenn (lanodan) Monnier <contact(a)hacktivis.me> // Copyright: 2019 Jeff Kaufman <jeff.t.kaufman(a)gmail.com> // Copyright: 2019 Nate Dobbins <nated(a)posteo.net> // Copyright: 2019 Noah Loomans <noah(a)noahloomans.com> // Copyright: 2019 Philip K <philip(a)warpmail.net> // Copyright: 2019 Simon Ser <contact(a)emersion.fr> // Copyright: 2020 Drew DeVault <sir(a)cmpwn.com> // Copyright: 2020 skuzzymiglet <skuzzymiglet(a)gmail.com> // Copyright: 2021 Gianluca Arbezzano <ciao(a)gianarb.it> // Copyright: 2021 sourque <contact(a)sourque.com> Let's not get ahead of ourselves by prematurely over-namespacing everything. The current license headers read like an SPDX advertisement.

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REUSE helper tool version 0.14.0 released
by Max Mehl 27 Dec '21

27 Dec '21

Hello everyone, Today we have released the (hopefully) last version of the REUSE helper tool in 2021 - v0.14.0! It fixes a few edge-case issues and adds a lot of newly supported file types and names for automatic recognition for the `addheader` commands. The new version also brings the `supported-licenses` subcommand, a `--quiet` flag for lint, as well as better suggestions for SPDX license identifiers if the entered one does not match a valid identifier. https://github.com/fsfe/reuse-tool/releases/tag/v0.14.0 As always, the new release is available via PyPi and Docker. Distribution repositories like Debian, Arch and Fedora will probably follow in the news days [^1]. We wish you relaxing remaining days of this year and a great start to 2022! Best regards, Max [^1]: https://repology.org/project/reuse/versions -- Max Mehl - Programme Manager - Free Software Foundation Europe Contact and information: https://fsfe.org/about/mehl | @mxmehl Become a supporter of software freedom: https://fsfe.org/join

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Objection to use of GitHub for REUSE maintenance
by Drew DeVault 21 Dec '21

21 Dec '21

FOSS projects should use FOSS infrastructure, especially when they're headed up by the FSFE. REUSE should not be on GitHub, and should never have been on GitHub.

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Custom exceptions
by Chris Wilson 26 Nov '21

26 Nov '21

I'm curious as to the reason why custom exceptions are not allowed (see https://reuse.software/faq/#custom-exception). For example, I'd like to add a custom exception for https://www.kicad.org/libraries/license/ which is an exception to the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 License, but is not registered in https://spdx.org/licenses/exceptions-index.html For example, I'd like to be able to specify something like this: SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 WITH LicenseRef-KiCad-Libraries-Exception Thanks, Chris

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ISO standard
by Alejandro Criado-Pérez 16 Sep '21

16 Sep '21

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REUSE.yaml
by Max Mehl 22 Jun '21

22 Jun '21

Hi all, I am starting a new thread, summarising a wild idea we've had when discussing how to combine the different ideas and expectations that have been raised in the threads regarding folder.license files and the deprecation of the DEP5 file. Our suggestion would be to implement a new file: REUSE.yaml. # Basic concept The purpose would be quite similar to what we already do with DEP5 files [^1]: communicate copyright/licensing information for a whole (sub)directory, or also just a certain pattern, e.g. all .png files in a directory. The first downside of DEP5 is that the tags are different from the normal SPDX/REUSE tags, and that it requires some other meta information out of REUSE's scope. The second downside is that the DEP5 file has to be stored in the .reuse/ folder, quite unintuitive and far away from the actual files. As the name suggests, REUSE.yaml would follow the YAML syntax which is easy to read and write for humans, but it also pretty easy to parse in tools. Another difference would be that there could be multiple REUSE.yaml files. Each one could only define the directory it is stored in, or also subdirectories or certain file patterns. So it can also serve as an alternative to the suggested folder.license files. This would make things easier for devs and reusers alike: given that a repo contains a directory with hundreds of binary files (e.g. images), the maintainers could create a REUSE.yaml file in it. This way, copyright and licensing information is close by, but the maintainers would not have to create $file.license files for every single image, or store the bulk-information in a far-away file. # Syntax Now, if we went that route, we would need a rather fool-proof and easy way how to mark the REUSE information for a directory, subdirectory, or pattern. Here are four variants how to do that in YAML, but only one should be mandated by REUSE in the end: 1. Short Array: ``` - src/*: SPDX-FileCopyrightText: [ "2020 me", "© 2017 you" ] SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT ``` 2. Short List: ``` - src/*: SPDX-FileCopyrightText: - 2020 Me - © 2017 You SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT ``` 3. Short String: ``` - src/*: | SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Me SPDX-FileCopyrightText: © 2017 You SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT ``` 4. Long: ``` - src/*: license: SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT copyright: | SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Me SPDX-FileCopyrightText: © 2017 You ``` Please help us here: what could possibly go wrong with any of these variants? Is there tooling for which you know that it would misbehave? What would make most sense to you as a user? Also, in general, I would be pleased to learn what you think about a REUSE.yaml file that would be a preferred way how to bulk-license files. Best, Max [^1]: See the one of reuse-tool here as an example: https://github.com/fsfe/reuse-tool/blob/master/.reuse/dep5 -- Max Mehl - Programme Manager - Free Software Foundation Europe Contact and information: https://fsfe.org/about/mehl | @mxmehl Become a supporter of software freedom: https://fsfe.org/join

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Please review idea for a modular approach to sources of information
by Nico Rikken 16 Jun '21

16 Jun '21

Hi REUSE community, I've noticed that there are 3 pull requests (PR's) that actually require some restructuring of the code-base before merging. The PR's are somewhat blocked as a consequence. These PR's gather information from the project code and system to fill details like copyright holder, copyright year, maintainer name, maintainer email, etc. This information can come from many sources and can be used in multiple commands (like `init` and `addheader`). So even if we have 2 sources now, it can quickly grow for all types of version control systems (git, mercurial) and project definition files (pyproject.toml, package.json, etc.). Two PR's are already in conflict, so we need a proper solution sooner rather than later. I took the time to write down my ideas in an issue comment, hoping to further this discussion and create the space for the outstanding contributions: https://github.com/fsfe/reuse-tool/issues/68#issuecomment-859763098 I hope you can take a look and reply in the GitHub issue thread with your opinions, concerns and suggestions. Best, Nico Rikken

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Unable to complete registration for REUSE Booster
by Minyong (Bill) Li 10 Jun '21

10 Jun '21

Hi all, I happened to come across reuse.software on 9 June and discovered this great activity. I tried to register, but when visiting the confirmation link I can only get a 404 Not Found page saying "No such pending confirmation ID". My first trial has NoScript enabled so I tried twice this morning with NoScript globally disabled, but still I can only get a 404. I use a Firefox 88.0.1 on Linux. Could you please take a look into it? Best Regards, Minyong (Bill) Li Electronics and Computer Science University of Southampton

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Announcing REUSE Booster to support projects
by Max Mehl 09 Jun '21

09 Jun '21

Hi all, As you know, adopting the REUSE best practices is no rocket science, even for non-legals and hobbyists. Still, some Free Software communities wanted to get some extra help and guidance. Today, we launch REUSE Booster as a program to facilitate this! https://reuse.software/booster Projects can register themselves to receive some help by the FSFE's legal experts. Thanks to our involvement in the NGI project, we have vast experience with providing this support. Registration is open until 8 July EOD. So if you represent projects that would like to get a helping hand with adopting REUSE or know some, please register and spread the word! Best, Max -- Max Mehl - Programme Manager - Free Software Foundation Europe Contact and information: https://fsfe.org/about/mehl | @mxmehl Become a supporter of software freedom: https://fsfe.org/join

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FSFE's Successes with Encouraging REUSE Adoption in Free Software Projects (NGI0)
by Gabriel Ku Wei Bin 04 May '21

04 May '21

Hi all, For those of you who may not be aware, the FSFE has been involved in the Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0) Initiative, a project from the European Commission. A very important part of what we do there is to help developing Free Software projects involved in adopt REUSE as a standard. These software projects deal either with improving user privacy on the internet, or with how information is searched for and retrieved on the internet. I'm very glad to say that our endeavors for REUSE adoption have been very successful so far in the 2.5 years that we've been involved in this initiative. We've just today released a news item about this, where you can read more details about the progress that we've made there if you like. Link is included below, thanks! https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210504-01.en.html Best, Gabriel -- Gabriel Ku Wei Bin - Legal Coordinator Free Software Foundation Europe Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | https://fsfe.org/support

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