Open Source License Checklists - Access to raw data

This is a description of how to access the raw data on which the OSADL Open Source license obligations checklists are based. Please note that the information provided here changes from time to time as it is always a work in progress. Therefore, it is discouraged to store these data locally, but instead obtain them from here or refresh any local clones whenever the data were updated in between (see below).

Each checklist, distinctly denominated by the license's SPDX abbreviation, is located under a link of the form https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/unreflicenses/<SPDX>.txt. Apart from all obligations and use cases, this material also contains all additional information, such as indications of copyleft clauses, patent hints and (in-)compatibilities with other licenses. All licenses for which checklists are available are listed below along with a link to the respective SPDX license text and to the checklist raw data file.

The checklists encode license obligations through a canonical vocabulary consisting of language elements (e.g. YOU MUST), actions (e.g. Provide) and terms (e.g. Copyright notice). Every word or expression is clearly defined, and the raw data of a particular definition is located under a link of the form https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/<language,actions,terms>/<LANGUAGE,Action,Term>.txt. The explanation of the language element ATTRIBUTE, for example, is available under the link https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/language/ATTRIBUTE.txt. Complete lists of all available files can be downloaded from the following links:

• Language elements: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/language.txt
• Actions: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/actions.txt
• Terms: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/terms.txt
• Checklists: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/unreflicenses.txt
• Checklists in JSON format: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/jsonlicenses.txt
• Checklists in optimized JSON format: https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/all/jsonlicenses-opt.txt

The recommended way to download our data is as follows:

1. Unconditionally download the files you are interested in, then use the data immediately and delete the files afterwards.
2. Alternatively, use a local copy, but check the timestamp file at https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/timestamp and compare it with the date of your previous download.
3. The timestamp is formatted as extended ISO-8601 string the format of which can be obtained from https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/timeformat.
4. It is also possible to do the update check per file by referring to the timestamp data of all files at https://www.osadl.org/fileadmin/checklists/alltimestamps.json.
5. Download the files again, if the timestamp is newer than your local copy.
6. Never use a local copy without checking the timestamp to see whether it is outdated.
7. Do not make brute-force fancy queries to test whether a particular license or term is supported. For single queries, always refer to the file names given in the lists.

Raw data of the compatibility matrix are also available in CSV and in JSON format.

CSV

The CSV format uses the same two-dimensional layout as the original matrix on the Web. It has column headers in row #1 and row headers in column #1

This CSV data set can be used, for example, to be converted into an HTML table as exemplified on a separate Web page.

JSON

The JSON object format uses a nested array with the outer array containing the leading licenses (i.e. the rows of the matrix) and the inner array containing the secondary licenses (i.e. the columns of the matrix). In addition, it comes in three variants:

Code snippets of how to use the above JSON data sets are provided on a separate Web page.

Also the copyleft table is available as a JSON data array:

Also the source code disclosure table is available as a JSON data array:

You may maintain a local copy of the above files, but please make sure that you always check the timestamp and refresh your local copy should our data have been updated in between.

The raw data of the OSADL Open Source License Checklists are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

© 2017 - 2024 Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) eG and contributors, infoªosadl.org

Attribution text

"A project by the Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) eG. For further information about the project see the description at www.osadl.org/checklists."