The Open Source License Compendium Manifesto

Mission:

The Open Source License Compendium shall reliably specify how to to use Open Source Software in a regular manner. Particularly it shall ...

  • support Open Source users to act according to the Open Source License requirements without having to become license experts themselves
  • offer strongly reliable and quickly accessible instructions  (to-do lists) how to fulfill a touched Open Source license
  • consolidate reliable background knowledge by gathering and verifying information from the net and from libraries

Motto:

It's better to know one reliable way through the jungle of Open Source Licenses than to restart the search for the best specific solution again and again

Principles:

  • To-do lists as the core, discussions around them : Centrally OSLiC shall list one set of fulfilling activities for each use case and for each (important) Open Source license. Around this core it shall additionally describe those important facts which legitimate the to-do lists.
  • Quotations with thoroughly specified sources : The OSLiC shall easily be checkable and verifiable. For that purpose it shall use the method of academic citation and list bibliographic data extensively.
  • Not the internet alone, also books and articles : The OSLiC shall derive its' statements on the base of reliable facts and descriptions. Therefore it shall not only use information gathered from the internet, but also from scientific sources like university libraries.
  • Not clearing out the forest land, but cutting out a swathe : The OSLiC shall not get lost in detailed discussions. It's enough to offer one possible and reliable way for fulfilling a license with respect to a use case. To discuss the specific aspects of special circumstances and those of not generic solutions shall remain the work of lawyers.
  • Take the text seriously : The OSLiC shall read and interpret the licenses sincerely and in the spirit of the Open Source Community. It's not the OSLiC's task to stretch the ambit of the licenses or to test their boundary.
  • Trust the swarm : The OSLiC  shall be discussed and verified broadly - together with the community. Therefore it is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike German 3.0 license and hosted as GitHub repository.

The OSLiC URLs