Request to add OSCAT License to the SPDX license list
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Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...>
Hello,
I want to kindly request addition of the OSCAT license to the SPDX license list. 1) Provide a proposed Full Name for the license or exception. License Agreement for the Usage of the OSCAT libraries 2) Provide a proposed Short Identifier. OSCAT License 3) Provide a functioning url reference to the license or exception text, either from the author or a community recognized source. http://www.oscat.de/dlmanager.html 4) Create and attach a text file with the license or exception text from the url provided in #3. Please proofread the text file to ensure that: Information has not been lost or modified. Formatting is clean and consistent with the license or exception URL. I attached two files, one with the English text, and one with the German text of the license. (The link above displays both licenses.) Remark: The license text refers to chapter 1 of the user manual. Said chapter 1 of the user manual solely consists of the license text itself (German or English), as it is attached here and displayed online on the link given above. Remark 2: I am not sure whether the German or the English version are normative, or both. However, I did not find any obvious significant differences between both texts. Given the background of the OSCAT project, I assume that 5) Indicate whether the license is OSI-approved (see: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical) or whether it has been submitted for approval to the OSI and is currently under review. As far as I know, the OSCAT license is neither OSI-approved, nor has it been submitted to the OSI for approval. 6) Provide a short explanation regarding the need for this license or exception to be included on the SPDX License List, including identifying at least one program that uses this license. My employer redistributes the OSCAT libraries through our web site (https://store.codesys.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=oscat), and we're in the process of improving our license handling. We want to standardize on SPDX license identifiers for free/open source software, and the OSCAT license currently has no such identifier. Remark: Other than indicated above, I'm not affiliated with OSCAT in any ways, and I did not yet communicate with the OSCAT project about this request. Thank you in advance! Best regards Markus Schaber CODESYS® a trademark of 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Inspiring Automation Solutions 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Dipl.-Inf. Markus Schaber | Product Development Core Technology Memminger Str. 151 | 87439 Kempten | Germany Tel. +49-831-54031-979 | Fax +49-831-54031-50 E-Mail: m.schaber@... | Web: http://www.codesys.com | CODESYS store: http://store.codesys.com CODESYS forum: http://forum.codesys.com Managing Directors: Dipl.Inf. Dieter Hess, Dipl.Inf. Manfred Werner | Trade register: Kempten HRB 6186 | Tax ID No.: DE 167014915 This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorised copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. |
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Dennis Clark
Markus, I have added a reference to your License List Request to the "Licenses under Consideration" tab of the Google Drive Sheet "SPDX Licenses and Exceptions Under Consideration" at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11AKxLBoN_VXM32OmDTk2hKeYExKzsnPjAVM7rLstQ8s/edit?pli=1#gid=695212681 On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 8:35 AM, Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...> wrote: Hello, |
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Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...>
Hi, Dennis,
I have added a reference to your License List Request to the "Licenses under Consideration" tab of the Google Drive Sheet "SPDX Licenses and Exceptions Under Consideration" at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11AKxLBoN_VXM32OmDTk2hKeYExKzsnPjAVM7rLstQ8s/edit?pli=1#gid=695212681 The status of your Request is "Under Review" and will be scheduled for discussion in a Legal Working Group meeting.Nice, thanks! Just a small side note: The author of the license is not CODESYS, it's the OSCAT project, or one/some of their contributors. Best regards Markus Schaber CODESYS® a trademark of 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Inspiring Automation Solutions 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Dipl.-Inf. Markus Schaber | Product Development Core Technology Memminger Str. 151 | 87439 Kempten | Germany Tel. +49-831-54031-979 | Fax +49-831-54031-50 E-Mail: m.schaber@... | Web: http://www.codesys.com | CODESYS store: http://store.codesys.com CODESYS forum: http://forum.codesys.com Managing Directors: Dipl.Inf. Dieter Hess, Dipl.Inf. Manfred Werner | Trade register: Kempten HRB 6186 | Tax ID No.: DE 167014915 This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorised copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. _______________________________________________ Spdx-legal mailing list Spdx-legal@... https://lists.spdx.org/mailman/listinfo/spdx-legal Best regards Markus Schaber CODESYS® a trademark of 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Inspiring Automation Solutions ________________________________________ 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH Dipl.-Inf. Markus Schaber | Product Development Core Technology Memminger Str. 151 | 87439 Kempten | Germany Tel. +49-831-54031-979 | Fax +49-831-54031-50 E-Mail: m.schaber@... | Web: codesys.com | CODESYS store: store.codesys.com CODESYS forum: forum.codesys.com Managing Directors: Dipl.Inf. Dieter Hess, Dipl.Inf. Manfred Werner | Trade register: Kempten HRB 6186 | Tax ID No.: DE 167014915 ________________________________________ This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorised copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. |
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Dennis Clark
Hi Markus, First of all, let me apologize to you on behalf of the SPDX legal working group for taking so long to get back to you regarding the status of your request. It has been a very challenging period for the legal team to take care of all the various tasks that we are facing as we prepare to publish the next release of the SPDX License List, which is introducing new technology and some significant changes to how some major licenses are identified. 1.4. Intended and Correct Use The software modules included in the library and described in this documentation were exclusively developed for professionals who have had training in PLC. The users are responsible for complying with all applicable standards and regulations which come into effect with the use of the software modules. OSCAT does not refer to these standards or regulations in either the manual or the software itself. 1.5. Other All legally binding regulations can be found solely in chapter 1 of the user manual. Deduction or acquisition of legal claims based on the content of the manual, apart from the provisions stipulated in chapter 1, is completely ruled out. This license appears to set restrictions that are not generally found in open source licenses:
For those reasons, the OSCAT license is not really an open source license, and would not be a good fit with the SPDX License List. For SPDX document purposes, it might be best for you to use the License Reference syntax: "a user defined license reference denoted by LicenseRef-[idstring] (for a license not on the SPDX License List)". Please feel free to provide further arguments for accepting the OSCAT license into the SPDX License List, but currently it has not been approved. Your interest in SPDX is greatly appreciated. Regards, Dennis Clark nexB Inc. On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 4:57 AM, Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...> wrote: Hi, Dennis, |
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Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...>
Hi, Dennis,
Sorry, I just found your reply now when checking old mail folders. The responsibilities in our house changed, and some things got lost. L
As I said, I am not the author of the license, nor affiliated with the project. We are just redistributing the OSCAT library, thus I do not have the final word on the interpretation of the license. I am also aware that this license is rather uncommon compared to other OSS licenses. This project lives in a niche market of software for engine builder engineers; their culture and paradigms are traditionally rather different from the “ordinary” software industry.
My understanding of clause 1.4 is that this is some kind of disclaimer / liability exclusion, written by an engineer instead of a lawyer. I would not see it as a binding restriction of who can use the software, but rather as an “intended target audience”. As far as I can see, the OSCAT authors specifically do not want to guarantee that their library fulfils particular standards and regulations, which are applicable in the target markets. Licenses like the MIT license have similar clauses, where they exclude the warranties of “merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement”.
Clause 1.5 points to Chapter 1 of the user manual. This manual is a PDF downloadable on their site in German and English, and said Chapter 1 just reproduces the license (clauses 1.1 to 1.5).
As far as I can see, the OSCAT project intends to be an Open Source Project; let me quote Chapter 2.1 of the English manual (oscat_basic333_en.pdf):
2.1. Objectives OSCAT is for "Open Source Community for Automation Technology".
OSCAT will create with the open OSCAT Library a powerful and comprehensive standard for the programming of PLC, which is available in the Source Code and verified and tested by a variety of applications in detail. Extensive knowledge and suggestions will continue to follow through a variety of applications to the library. Thus, the library can be described as very practical. OSCAT understands his library as a development template and not as a mature product. The user is solely responsible for the tests in its application modules with the appropriate procedures and to verify the necessary accuracy, quality and functionality. At this point we reference to the license and the disclaimer mentioned in this documentation.
Best regards
3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH
This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received
From: Dennis Clark <dmclark@...>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2017 8:27 PM To: Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...> Cc: spdx-legal@...; Katarina Heining <K.Heining@...> Subject: Re: Request to add OSCAT License to the SPDX license list
Hi Markus, First of all, let me apologize to you on behalf of the SPDX legal working group for taking so long to get back to you regarding the status of your request. It has been a very challenging period for the legal team to take care of all the various tasks that we are facing as we prepare to publish the next release of the SPDX License List, which is introducing new technology and some significant changes to how some major licenses are identified. During the review discussion, issues surfaced regarding clauses 1.4 and 1.5 of the proposed OSCAT license: 1.4. Intended and Correct Use The software modules included in the library and described in this documentation were exclusively developed for professionals who have had training in PLC. The users are responsible for complying with all applicable standards and regulations which come into effect with the use of the software modules. OSCAT does not refer to these standards or regulations in either the manual or the software itself. 1.5. Other All legally binding regulations can be found solely in chapter 1 of the user manual. Deduction or acquisition of legal claims based on the content of the manual, apart from the provisions stipulated in chapter 1, is completely ruled out. This license appears to set restrictions that are not generally found in open source licenses:
For those reasons, the OSCAT license is not really an open source license, and would not be a good fit with the SPDX License List. For SPDX document purposes, it might be best for you to use the License Reference syntax: "a user defined license reference denoted by LicenseRef-[idstring] (for a license not on the SPDX License List)". Please feel free to provide further arguments for accepting the OSCAT license into the SPDX License List, but currently it has not been approved. Your interest in SPDX is greatly appreciated. Regards, Dennis Clark nexB Inc.
On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 4:57 AM, Markus Schaber <m.schaber@...> wrote:
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