Bug#1029055: Debian Expat and SPDX MIT License Text
Control: tag -1 + confirmed - moreinfo
Hi,
Richard Fontana wrote:
> > 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
Thanks a lot. The fact that what is blue in the rendering is caused
by an XML tag called <optional> explains well its meaning
> 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
Seems so. Wasn't aware of them either.
> 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"
Ok. What I take away is that Debian's "MIT License (Expat)" is the
same as SPDX's "MIT License" without the optional parts.
> (I don't think they are "the same" because the underlying concepts
> of what a license is and so forth are not the same).
Interesting. But I don't want to go into that rabbit hole. :-)_
Soren Stoutner wrote:
> Thanks Richard. I was unaware of the XML versions.
Me too.
> So, this would mean that SPDX considers what Debian calls the MIT (Expat)
> license to match what SPDX calls MIT because the differences are all either
> considered by SPDX to be omittable
Yes.
> or replaceable
Not really. :-)
> as demonstrated by the tags in the XML file and the text colors in
> the HTML version.
Yep, that XML version really helped to understand the semantics of the
colors in SPDX's HTML rendering.
But even if they're still not the same as such, it indeed makes no
sense that Lintian argues about them being different. So I'll fix this
bug report with the next upload. (Which likely happens once Lintian 2.116.0
has migrated to Testing.)
Regards, Axel
--
,''`. | Axel Beckert <abe@debian.org>, https://people.debian.org/~abe/
: :' : | Debian Developer, ftp.ch.debian.org Admin
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