From 92b2fa9728870090b1e4109c0a7a6029a17d6589 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "W. Trevor King" Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 14:17:48 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] Remove 'library-usage' The last meaningful change to this tag was c4c48d49 (Change nonstatic to library usage, 2013-07-10), but I'm not sure where that discussion happened. In any case, that commit changed some "must" wording to "may" wording, which seems like it should move the label from required to permitted. However, a library-usage permission would also apply to many other licenses (e.g. folks are free to link MIT-licensed work from a proprietary program), and adding library-usage to almost all the licenses seems like the wrong way to make this distinction [1]. The limitations that the LGPL and OSL place on disclose-source scoping are already covered in the disclose-source description, so the library-usage label doesn't seem to be adding anything meaningful. The OSL gets at this distinction by tightly scoping derivative works [2], and the LGPL talks about combined works as a special subset of derivative works [3,4]. The MPL makes a similar distinction between "Covered Software" and "Larger Work" [5], and the EPL makes a similar distinction between "derivative works" and "the Program" [6]. Whether the location of those distinctions, or the requirements placed on combined works can be neatly summarized in a boolean label remains to be seen, but we're pretty sure that library-usage is not that label [7]. Subsequent commits may replace the caveat in the disclose-source description with wording in the license description themselves or by adding a new label that summarizes the issue. Until then, the disclose-source description more clearly covers the information that library-usage was intended to convey, so this commit removes the less-clear label to avoid redundancy. [1]: https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com/pull/343#issuecomment-179532710 [2]: http://rosenlaw.com/OSL3.0-explained.htm#_Toc187293087 [3]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html [4]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html [5]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0/ [6]: http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html [7]: https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com/pull/343#issuecomment-179557468 --- README.md | 1 - _data/rules.yml | 3 --- _licenses/lgpl-2.1.html | 1 - _licenses/lgpl-3.0.html | 1 - 4 files changed, 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 81d50ac..c838473 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ The license properties (rules) are stored as a bulleted list within the licenses * `document-changes` - Indicate significant changes made to the code. * `disclose-source` - Source code must be made available when distributing the software. In the case of LGPL and OSL 3.0, the source for the library (and not the entire program) must be made available. * `network-use-disclose` - Users who interact with the software via network are given the right to receive a copy of the corresponding source code. -* `library-usage` - The library may be used within a non-open-source application. * `rename` - You must change the name of the software if you modify it. #### Permitted diff --git a/_data/rules.yml b/_data/rules.yml index d7fdbc2..b2868ac 100644 --- a/_data/rules.yml +++ b/_data/rules.yml @@ -11,9 +11,6 @@ required: - description: Users who interact with the software via network are given the right to receive a copy of the corresponding source code. label: Network Use is Distribution tag: network-use-disclose -- description: The library may be used within a non-open-source application. - label: Library usage - tag: library-usage - description: You must change the name of the software if you modify it. label: Rename tag: rename diff --git a/_licenses/lgpl-2.1.html b/_licenses/lgpl-2.1.html index a290a1f..37a1992 100644 --- a/_licenses/lgpl-2.1.html +++ b/_licenses/lgpl-2.1.html @@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ note: The Free Software Foundation recommends taking the additional step of addi required: - include-copyright - - library-usage - disclose-source permitted: diff --git a/_licenses/lgpl-3.0.html b/_licenses/lgpl-3.0.html index e281342..8b511d9 100644 --- a/_licenses/lgpl-3.0.html +++ b/_licenses/lgpl-3.0.html @@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ note: The Free Software Foundation recommends taking the additional step of addi required: - include-copyright - - library-usage - disclose-source permitted: