[Debtags-devel] Re: Creating a Debtags 'license' facet

[Anthony DeRobertis]

As well as the dual-licencing issues Andrew mentioned, I'd like to point
out a more serious issue: What is the expected use of this tagging?

Personally, I can see two uses, neither of which this tag as proposed
seems to cover well:

  1) I am looking to find a some code with a compatible licence to
     combine or use with my code. The proposed tags don't seem that
     helpful, because they'd require me to already know the list
     of licences which are compatible with my goals. It'd be much
     more useful if I could ask questions like,
       - "Which programs are GPL-compatible?" (not just which are under
         the GPL).
       - "Which programs can I combine into my proprietary program and
          not have to distribute source?"
       - "Which programs can I distribute, assuming I'm not charging for
          distribution?" (this includes parts of non-free, of course)

   2) I have a moral objection to certain things debian rejects, or,
      alternatively, accept certain things debian considers non-free.
      [With "I" being a hypothetical user]. Perhaps I consider forced
      distribution of source, e.g., GPL, wrong. Or maybe I consider a
      choice of venue clause free enough. With the proposal, I'd have
      to go through, licence by licence, figuring out which that is.

I suggest that before implementing this, you first figure out why a user
would want it, then design based on that.