[Slackbuilds-users] Feature request

[Ivan Zaigralin]

On 11/14/2012 04:10 AM, Petar Petrov wrote:
> Quoting Ivan Zaigralin <melikamp at melikamp.com>:
> 
>> How about a variable in .info which identifies the type of license(s) used 
>> in the package to be built? Something like
>> 
>> LICENSE="free"|"non-free"
>> 
>> or
>> 
>> FREE_SOFTWARE="true"|"false"
>> 
>> where "free" would indicate that the package only contains free software. 
>> The inclusion of this variable can be made optional.
>> 
>> This will be transparent to those who want to keep using Slackbuilds the 
>> same way as before, but it will also provide utility to everyone. With only
>> a modest effort from each maintainer, every user will be able to quickly 
>> check the license type of a package without chasing down the  sources.
>> Moreover, automated license management will become possible.
> 
> Hi
> 
> License management? Do we really need this?

It is a very useful feature, especially in a commercial environment, where
running afoul of a license can cost users a lot.

> Isn't this going to make things more complicated, unnecessarily? I may sound
> lazy and selfish, but I do not want to have to check a yet another thing
> before i submit a SlackBuild.

Like I said, let's make it optional. Then you won't have to bother. Or may be
someone else will review the license and let you know, sparing you from the
extra work. Not a lot of software goes from free to non-free or vice versa,
so the amount of effort required to keep this up to date will be truly tiny.

> If some software requires registration or has something "special" about it's
> license, couldn't this be listed in the README?

This would not be an improvement over putting the license(s) into the doc dir,
which is mostly done already. In particular, it does nothing to help automation.

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