From: Spdx-tech@... <Spdx-tech@...> On Behalf Of J Lovejoy
Sent: Wednesday, 28 July, 2021 19:00
To: 'SPDX-legal' <Spdx-legal@...>; Spdx-tech@...
Subject: [spdx-tech] capitalization rules for SPDX license ids and operators

 

Hi Legal, Tech teams,

I just want to clarify my understanding of capitalization sensitivity for SPDX license ids and license expression operators:

Appendix IV states:
License expression operators (AND, OR and WITH) should be matched in a case-sensitive manner.

License identifiers (including license exception identifiers) used in SPDX documents or source code files should be matched in a case-insensitive manner. In other words, MIT, Mit and mIt should all be treated as the same identifier and referring to the same license.

However, please be aware that it is often important to match with the case of the canonical identifier on the SPDX License List. This is because the canonical identifier's case is used in the URL of the license's or exception's entry on the List, and because the canonical identifier is translated to a URI in RDF documents.

I'm wondering - was there a particular reason that the license expression operators are case-sensitive (while the license ids are not)?

Thanks!
Jilayne

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