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Use a Standard-Compliant License Identifier #1682

Merged
merged 1 commit into from
May 5, 2015
Merged

Use a Standard-Compliant License Identifier #1682

merged 1 commit into from
May 5, 2015

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kemitchell
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This pull request changes the value of the license property in package.json to a standard, machine-readable SPDX license identifier, "MIT".

npm doesn't require that you use a valid SPDX identifier, but it's strongly recommended. (Try npm help 7 package.json and search for “License”.) Other source code package managers, like Maven for Java and RubyGems for Ruby, recommend the same. I can't give legal advice via GitHub, but I'm happy to answer questions about SPDX or point you to good resources.

Why care about SPDX? A machine-readable standard makes it possible for programs, rather than just people, to review a module or even an entire codebase to make sure that licenses are compatible. Whatever the reason—strong personal conviction, company policy, terms of a business deal—SPDX makes it easier to collaborate with others when licenses can be a problem, and helps take open-source software to more places. Given that npm has a ton of modules but also handles dependencies in a novel way, I think a little license hygiene could help npm build amazing new relationships between communities that lawyers have long kept apart.

Thanks for your contribution to open-source software!

K

travisjeffery pushed a commit that referenced this pull request May 5, 2015
Use a Standard-Compliant License Identifier
@travisjeffery travisjeffery merged commit f892d90 into mochajs:master May 5, 2015
@kemitchell kemitchell deleted the spdx-license branch May 5, 2015 20:47
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2 participants