The OSI, under the auspices of the License Committee, will be evaluating
whether the current list of licenses is as comprehensive as it should
be. It may be that a combination of factors, including a) how licenses
are selected for review, b) the desire to ensure that approved licenses
meet a minimum standard of quality, and c) a desire to discourage
license proliferation, may have prevented some suitable licenses from
obtaining OSI approval. This creates ambiguity about whether some
licenses are or are not open source licenses.
The mission of the License List Working Group is to find ways to ensure
that the OSI’s license list is appropriately comprehensive while also
continuing to encourage the use of a smaller set of well-known,
well-understood licenses. The work is likely to include:
* Reevaluating the criteria for approving licenses, potentially
setting different standards for licenses in use versus new licenses
* Reevaluating the process for considering licenses for approval,
including whether the OSI should itself nominate licenses for approval
* Reevaluating the current categories for licenses, including how they
are used and their usefulness
* Evaluating whether there should be a process for decertifying
licenses, and what the process and standards would be for the process
This Working Group will not be investigating or evaluating whether the
Open Source Definition should be revised. That project is likely to
require a different assortment of participants than this proposed
Working Group, so a review of the OSD is more appropriately undertaken
separately.
The Working Group will solicit input from the community, both individual
and corporate, in fulfilling its task.
If you are interested in participating in the Working Group, please
contact License Committee chair Pamela Chestek at
pamela.ches...@opensource.org. Describe why you are interested in
participating and a brief summary of your background and qualifications
for the role. The intent is to have a fairly small working group that
can work efficiently, with members who are willing to contribute
significant time to the project. There is also a desire for
representation from different interests, including individual,
for-profit and nonprofit entities, different legal jurisdictions, and
lawyers and non-lawyers.
Announcement also at:
https://wiki.opensource.org/bin/Working+Groups+%26+Incubator+Projects/License+List+Working+Group/
Pam
Pamela Chestek
License Committee Chair
Open Source Initiative
_______________________________________________
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