On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 6:39 AM, J Lovejoy <opensource@...> wrote:

For the last two calls:

http://wiki.spdx.org/view/Legal_Team/Minutes/2015-07-23
[...]
3) Mark-up bug raised on tech team call- bug filed requesting that the mark-up be
done to facilitate automation vs. human readable. Good goal that tech team will look
to see if it can be prioritized for next year. Gary will also talk with Jilayne about the
possibility of making mark-up changes something that others can do and then
submit as a patch
[...]

http://wiki.spdx.org/view/Legal_Team/Minutes/2015-08-06
[...]
2) Kris had raised request via tech list regarding markup on licenses and matching rules and joined to discuss some issues
matching guidelines that are programmatically difficult to implement, wanted to be
able to make suggestions
global review or make small improvements
examples: ISC License - now default license for NPM, has reference to ISC in text (needs markup);
one link broken on SPDX list and one goes to link with slightly different text (generic v. specific to ISC)
[...]

Adding matching markup inside the reference license texts will
eventually lead to un-resolvable conflicts:
- markup will make a license text no longer a reference
- it will make it less readable or unusable as such
- it may damage or transform a reference text in unwanted ways

It would be simpler to separate the two cleanly:

1. Reference license texts, not modified for matching.
They may contain lightweight markup for the purpose of clarity, not
for matching.

2. Arbitrarily marked-up texts for matching modified as needed.
They may contain heavy markup to the detriment of clarity.

Each can then have their own contribution and review paths: texts with
the legal team, markup with the tech team.

--
Cordially
Philippe Ombredanne