Lars Wirzenius <[email protected]> writes: > On ti, 2011-01-18 at 17:03 -0800, Russ Allbery wrote: > > I'm happy to see public domain added as a license keyword. > > This is the consensus, it seems. Would anyone like to suggest a patch > to implement it?
Here's my proposal: === modified file 'dep5.mdwn' --- dep5.mdwn 2011-01-19 05:22:03 +0000 +++ dep5.mdwn 2011-01-19 09:45:59 +0000 @@ -389,6 +389,7 @@ [[!table data=""" **keyword** | **meaning** +`public-domain` | No license required for any purpose; the work is not subject to copyright in any jurisdiction. `Apache` | Apache license [1.0](http://spdx.org/licenses/ASL-1.0), [2.0](http://spdx.org/licenses/ASL-2.0). `Artistic` | Artistic license [1.0](http://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-1.0), [2.0](http://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0). `BSD-2-clause` | Berkeley software distribution license, [2-clause version](http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause). @@ -467,6 +468,27 @@ > also delete it here. +### Public domain + +The `License` short name `public-domain` does not refer to a set of +license terms. There are some works which are not subject to copyright +in any jurisdiction and therefore no license is required for any +purpose covered by copyright law. This short name is an explicit +declaration that the associated files are “in the public domain”. + +Widespread misunderstanding about copyright in general, and the public +domain in particular, results in the common assertion that a work is +in the public domain when this is partly or wholly untrue for that +work. The +[Wikipedia article on public domain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain) +is a useful reference for this subject. + +When the `License` field in a paragraph has the short name +`public-domain`, the remaining lines of the field **must** explain +exactly what exemption the corresponding files for that paragraph have +from default copyright restrictions. + + ## Syntax License names are case-insensitive, and may not contain spaces. -- \ “If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; | `\ but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.” —Donald | _o__) Robert Perry Marquis | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
