1 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
GLEP: 23 |
2 |
|
|
Title: Portage handling of ACCEPT_LICENSE |
3 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
Version: $Revision: 1.1 $ |
4 |
|
|
Last-Modified: $Date: 2004/03/08 17:26:04 $ |
5 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
Author: Jason Stubbs <jstubbs@gentoo.org>, |
6 |
|
|
Status: Draft |
7 |
|
|
Type: Standards Track |
8 |
|
|
Content-Type: text/x-rst |
9 |
|
|
Created: 9-Mar-2004 |
10 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
Post-History: 8-Mar-2004 10-Mar-2004 |
11 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
|
12 |
|
|
|
13 |
|
|
Abstract |
14 |
|
|
======== |
15 |
|
|
|
16 |
|
|
Currently, every ebuild in the portage tree is required to have a valid |
17 |
|
|
LICENSE entry. However, the syntax of this entry is not officially |
18 |
|
|
defined and the entry itself is only used when outputting package |
19 |
|
|
details. |
20 |
|
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
22 |
|
|
Motivation |
23 |
|
|
========== |
24 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
|
Many users wish to regulate the software they install with regards to |
26 |
|
|
licenses for various reasons [1]_. Some want a system free of any |
27 |
|
|
software that is not OSI-approved; others are simply curious as to what |
28 |
|
|
licenses they are implicitly accepting. |
29 |
|
|
|
30 |
|
|
Furthermore, some software requires that a user interactively accept its |
31 |
|
|
license for its author's to consider it legally binding. This is |
32 |
|
|
currently implemented using ``eutils.eclass``. |
33 |
|
|
|
34 |
|
|
|
35 |
|
|
Specification |
36 |
|
|
============= |
37 |
|
|
|
38 |
|
|
Ebuild LICENSE Variable |
39 |
|
|
----------------------- |
40 |
|
|
|
41 |
|
|
Most ebuilds are for software which is released under a single license. |
42 |
|
|
In these cases, the current LICENSE variable can remain as is. For |
43 |
|
|
example: |
44 |
|
|
|
45 |
|
|
:: |
46 |
|
|
|
47 |
|
|
LICENSE="single-license" |
48 |
|
|
|
49 |
|
|
However, there are several ebuilds for software which is released under |
50 |
|
|
several licenses, of which the user must accept one, some or all [2]_. |
51 |
|
|
To complicate this, some ebuilds include optional components which fall |
52 |
|
|
under a different license. |
53 |
|
|
|
54 |
|
|
To accomodate these cases, LICENSE syntax should accomodate all |
55 |
|
|
functionality offered by a DEPEND string. To keep things simple, this |
56 |
|
|
GLEP proposes that the syntax be identical. For example: |
57 |
|
|
|
58 |
|
|
:: |
59 |
|
|
|
60 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
LICENSE="mandatory-license |
61 |
|
|
|| ( choosable-licence1 chooseable-license-2 ) |
62 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
useflag? ( optional-component-license )" |
63 |
|
|
|
64 |
|
|
|
65 |
|
|
License Groups |
66 |
|
|
-------------- |
67 |
|
|
|
68 |
|
|
Almost all users are willing to install any software that is |
69 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
FSF-approved. Other users are willing to install any software and |
70 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
implicitly accept its license. To this end, portage will also need to |
71 |
|
|
handle grouping of licenses. |
72 |
|
|
|
73 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
At a minimum, there needs to be the groups ``GPL-COMPATIBLE``, |
74 |
|
|
``FSF-APPROVED``, ``OSI-APPROVED`` and ``NON-INTERACTIVE``. |
75 |
|
|
``NON-INTERACTIVE`` licenses are those that don't require interactive |
76 |
|
|
acceptance for to be considered legally binding. This is the current |
77 |
|
|
behaviour of portage. |
78 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
|
79 |
|
|
|
80 |
|
|
ACCEPT_LICENSE |
81 |
|
|
-------------- |
82 |
|
|
|
83 |
|
|
This GLEP proposes that a user be able to explicitly accept or decline |
84 |
|
|
licenses by editing a new variable ``ACCEPT_LICENSE`` in |
85 |
|
|
``/etc/make.conf``. Again, to keep things simple, the syntax should be |
86 |
|
|
similar to that of other incrementals. For example: |
87 |
|
|
|
88 |
|
|
:: |
89 |
|
|
|
90 |
|
|
ACCEPT_LICENSE="-* accepted-license -declined-license" |
91 |
|
|
|
92 |
|
|
As an extension, ``ACCEPT_LICENSE`` must also support `license groups`_. |
93 |
|
|
This GLEP proposes that the license group be prepended by the special |
94 |
|
|
character "``@``". For example: |
95 |
|
|
|
96 |
|
|
:: |
97 |
|
|
|
98 |
g2boojum |
1.2 |
ACCEPT_LICENSE="-* @FSF-APPROVED" |
99 |
g2boojum |
1.1 |
|
100 |
|
|
|
101 |
|
|
Emerge Behaviour |
102 |
|
|
---------------- |
103 |
|
|
|
104 |
|
|
At a minimum, emerge must handle unaccepted licenses the same way that |
105 |
|
|
it handles blockers. That is, with the --pretend flag the |
106 |
|
|
not-yet-accepted license should be listed in the output. Without the |
107 |
|
|
--pretend flag, emerge should stop before any software is installed. |
108 |
|
|
|
109 |
|
|
This GLEP proposes that, unlike blockers, dependencies for software |
110 |
|
|
should be checked regardless of license acceptance. Doing so will allow |
111 |
|
|
the user to review all necessary licenses before initiating an actual |
112 |
|
|
emerge. |
113 |
|
|
|
114 |
|
|
It is also proposed that the --ask option will display an unaccepted |
115 |
|
|
license and ask for acceptance, but not update any configuration files |
116 |
|
|
at this stage. Finally, the --verbose option should also list the |
117 |
|
|
licenses accepted for each package. |
118 |
|
|
|
119 |
|
|
|
120 |
|
|
Rationale |
121 |
|
|
========= |
122 |
|
|
|
123 |
|
|
An implementation of this proposal should make it easy for users wishing |
124 |
|
|
to regulate their software without affecting those that don't. |
125 |
|
|
|
126 |
|
|
|
127 |
|
|
Reference Implementation |
128 |
|
|
======================== |
129 |
|
|
|
130 |
|
|
TODO |
131 |
|
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
133 |
|
|
Backwards Compatibility |
134 |
|
|
======================= |
135 |
|
|
|
136 |
|
|
There should be no change to the user experience without the user |
137 |
|
|
explicitly choosing to do so. This mandates that the |
138 |
|
|
configuration variable be named ``ACCEPT_LICENSE`` as some users may |
139 |
|
|
already have it set due to ebuilds using ``eutil.eclass``'s |
140 |
|
|
implementation. It also mandates that the default ``ACCEPT_LICENSE`` be |
141 |
|
|
set to ``@NON-INTERACTIVE``. |
142 |
|
|
|
143 |
|
|
|
144 |
|
|
References |
145 |
|
|
========== |
146 |
|
|
|
147 |
|
|
.. [1] Gentoo Linux Bug 17367 |
148 |
|
|
(http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17367) |
149 |
|
|
.. [2] Gentoo Linux Bug 34146 |
150 |
|
|
(http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34146) |
151 |
|
|
|
152 |
|
|
|
153 |
|
|
Copyright |
154 |
|
|
========= |
155 |
|
|
|
156 |
|
|
This document has been placed in the public domain. |
157 |
|
|
|