This was actually a rather difficult FAQ item to write, because the topic is so big and complicated, and I don't want the answers to be too long and boring.
Hello Carmen. There's no way your appointments on this can be too-long-and-boring. The issue is really a gray area and most people, even in the FOSS community, often get confused (me included). I warm-heartedly encourage you to make this PR as long as you see fit. Even if not in the scope of the REUSE tool, at least some references to further reading will be really welcome.
[]s monaco
On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 9:42 AM Carmen Bianca BAKKER carmenbianca@fsfe.org wrote:
Hi Carsten,
In fact I am working on a rather big PR which adds this item to the FAQ! :)
https://github.com/fsfe/reuse-website/pull/68
Extract:
## How does license compatibility work? {#license-compatibility}
Free Software licenses are all different. Many licenses are compatible,
meaning
that you can use code from multiple licenses in the same project and
still be
able to respect the terms of each license simultaneously.
Some licenses are [less permissive than
others](#copyleft-permissive-license),
meaning that a combined work containing code under both licenses must effectively respect the terms of the least permissive license.
Some licenses have mutually exclusive requirements. For example, the [CC-BY-NC-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) license
has a
clause that disallows a work to be used for commercial purposes, and the [GPL-3.0-or-later](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html) has a
clause that
says that you may not impose additional restrictions that aren't in the
GPL
license. Because the GPL license has no clause regarding commercial
purposes,
these two licenses cannot be respected simultaneously, and they are
considered
incompatible.
Exactly which licenses are compatible is a difficult question, and it
also
depends on what you want. Integrating work that is licensed differently
may mean
having to respect license terms which you do not want to respect.
Specifically as pertains to the GNU GPL, [this GNU article](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-compatibility.html) and
[GNU's
license list](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html) may help
you work
out compatibility.
It is important to note that REUSE does not help you resolve license compatibility. REUSE's goal is to help you comprehensively declare your licensing metadata, not to check whether that metadata is correct or
valid. You
need different tools and processes for that.
This was actually a rather difficult FAQ item to write, because the topic is so big and complicated, and I don't want the answers to be too long and boring.
Yours with kindness, Carmen _______________________________________________ REUSE mailing list -- reuse@lists.fsfe.org To unsubscribe send an email to reuse-leave@lists.fsfe.org
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