Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] Solving the problem of huge number of wrong LICENSES=*GPL-[23]

[Ulrich Mueller]

>>>>> On Sun, 26 Aug 2018, Michał Górny wrote:

> 1. introducing additional *-only licenses that explicitly indicate
> that a newer version is not allowed, e.g. GPL-2-only, LGPL-3-only etc.

I don't like this at all, because LICENSE="GPL-2" means exactly the
above, namely GPL version 2, no later version. Therefore, "GPL-2-only"
would be completely redundant to it.

What we could do (and what already exists in several ebuilds) is to add
a *comment* to the LICENSE line, like "# GPL-2 only". This could be
required for every new ebuild.

> 2. annotating the unsuffixed licenses with a warning that they may
> mean either x-only or x+ due to frequent mistake.

I don't think that's a good idea either. Also we're not allowed to
change the license documents:
"Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed."

> 3. make repoman warn whenever non-specific variant is used, telling
> developers to verify whether it's x-only or x+.

Repoman could check for a comment in the LICENSE line as well, I guess?

> 4. start migrating packages to x-only or x+ appropriately.

See above. We could instead migrate ebuilds with "GPL-2" to either:
LICENSE="GPL-2+"
or:
LICENSE="GPL-2" # GPL-2 only

Optionally, the comment can be removed once all ebuilds have been
converted.

> 5. eventually, remove the non-specific licenses and make repoman error
> out with clear explanation.

Ulrich