Bug#1029055: Debian Expat and SPDX MIT License Text
On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 2:06 AM Axel Beckert <abe@debian.org> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Soren Stoutner wrote:
> > There appears to be some question of opinion
>
> Not opinion. Just the point of what the meaning of _text colors_
> *rollingeyes* in a license do mean. I just ignored them and then those
> two licenses differ.
>
> > as to if the Debian MIT (Expat) License is
> > the same as the SPDX MIT License.
> […]
> > Can somebody at Debian Legal please comment?
>
> Yes, thanks! I'd prefer to have a good explanation, too.
>
> Please also note that I didn't mark the bug report as wontfix, just as
> moreinfo.
The SPDX definition of "MIT" is given in
https://github.com/spdx/license-list-XML/blob/main/src/MIT.xml
Based on a lot of experience now, you really have to consult the XML
files rather than rely on the convenience publication of license texts
at https://spdx.org/licenses
Based on that, and https://www.debian.org/legal/licenses/mit, and
https://spdx.github.io/spdx-spec/v2.3/license-matching-guidelines-and-templates/
I think the answer is that what Debian calls "MIT (Expat)" on that
page matches what SPDX calls "MIT" (I don't think they are "the same"
because the underlying concepts of what a license is and so forth are
not the same).
Richard
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