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Re: Can a license be "DFSG approved"?



On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 9:53 PM, David Seaward wrote:

> I suggested DFSG flagging, and SPDX are interested in a machine-
> readable status list. [2] Is there such a thing?

There is not such a thing.

> I was also reminded of the comment below, and wondered in retrospect if
> a flagging licenses as "DFSG approved" actually makes sense?

The DFSG is not a body that can approve things. You could say "DFSG
compatible", or "foo version X under license Y was approved by the
Debian ftp-masters".

> It is possible to have a package containing software under a "free"
> license with some other aspect that makes it non-free.

Yes, the DFSG covers more than just licensing.

> debian-legal comments on a license in abstract, not applied to any
> particular software. While these discussion can suggest possible
> problems, often no firm answers can be reached until some specific
> software is examined. [3]

debian-legal is just a discussion forum, not any official Debian body.
Often folks here try to avoid discussion in the abstract because
discussions without details can lead to incorrect or poor-fit
conclusions and suggestions. We can of course try to suggest possible
problems even without full details.

-- 
bye,
pabs

https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise


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