Licence of VO-DML files?

[Gerard Lemson]

Hi Marcus
I don't know the different licenses, but it would seem to me VO-DML and XSD are conceptually rather similar.
So if XSD would be CC-0, makes sense to do the same for VO-DML.
Gerard

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dm-bounces at ivoa.net <dm-bounces at ivoa.net> On Behalf Of Markus
> Demleitner
> Sent: Tuesday, November 3, 2020 6:47
> To: dm at ivoa.net
> Subject: Licence of VO-DML files?
> 
> Dear DM,
> 
> I'm currently trying to get DaCHS into Debian main.  This requires that I'm
> figuring out the licences for all the various files I'm distributing.
> 
> Although right now, there's no operational necessity to do so, because of the
> various annotation experiments that ran in DaCHS over the time, there are a
> few VO-DML files in the package.  These, right now, have no explicit licence.
> I'll *probably* get away with that, but, really, it would be better if I didn't
> have to worry about getting caught.
> 
> So... can we formulate a policy there?
> 
> My take: VO-DML files are close enough to software that we shouldn't use
> CC-X-Y (see
> https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrea
> tivecommons.org%2Ffaq%2F%23can-i-apply-a-creative-commons-license-to-
> software&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cglemson1%40jhu.edu%7Cbe4836bd69b94
> 22632f408d87fee2688%7C9fa4f438b1e6473b803f86f8aedf0dec%7C0%7C0%7C
> 637400008111792574%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwM
> DAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata
> =fbjfRAlu7XcOsWB1VKN%2BKiPs8L9sFvDDfdTWEHqXq9Y%3D&amp;reserved
> =0
> for the reasoning).  This would leave a software licence, and then we're
> knee-deep in the various incompatibilties.  Still, I think some version of the
> BSD or MIT licences might work; perhaps even the LGPL.
> The full GPL we certainly cannot afford.
> 
> Or we could go for CC-0, which is compatible to all software licences known
> to humankind (or so I think) and nicely works for software-linke things
> (https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki
> .creativecommons.org%2Fwiki%2FCC0_FAQ%23May_I_apply_CC0_to_comp
> uter_software.3F_If_so.2C_is_there_a_recommended_implementation.3F
> &amp;data=04%7C01%7Cglemson1%40jhu.edu%7Cbe4836bd69b9422632f40
> 8d87fee2688%7C9fa4f438b1e6473b803f86f8aedf0dec%7C0%7C0%7C6374000
> 08111792574%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQ
> IjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=0pUH1
> 5HgN46Wfl2TxCf8mnzHGRzUmvMurSaDkPF3550%3D&amp;reserved=0).
> It's also what our vocabularies
> (https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fww
> w.ivoa.net%2Frdf&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cglemson1%40jhu.edu%7Cbe4836
> bd69b9422632f408d87fee2688%7C9fa4f438b1e6473b803f86f8aedf0dec%7C0
> %7C0%7C637400008111792574%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC
> 4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&
> amp;sdata=7PRFPEh8eVqMf8s4oeIipA2XejwnelPHGD2ta4lpPmU%3D&amp;r
> eserved=0) use at the moment (and hopefully even after VocInVO2 is REC).
> 
> So... Do people have thoughts on this?  Action plans perhaps, even?
> 
>          -- Markus