> 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
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[]s monaco