To be included in this distribution, a software package must either be free of any copyright interests (i.e. exist in the "public domain") or be accompanied by one or more public copyright licenses. If accompanied by one license, the license must be a free license. If accompanied by multiple disjunctive licenses, at least one of the licenses must be free (the package will then be included under the terms of one of the free licenses).
A "free" license is one that is classified as free by at least one of the following resources and is not classified as non-free by any of the following resources:
These resources and their license classifications are described under License Classification Resources, § 2.2.
Licenses that are not classified in any way by any of the above resources shall be reviewed individually. Such licenses may be considered "free" under this policy provided they meet the requirements of the following definitions:
Version 1.0 of the Artistic License is listed as a license that meets the Debian Free Software Guidelines. However, Free Software Foundation, Inc. lists the license as non-free. At least one resource lists it as non-free, so – even though at least one resource lists it as free – Artistic License version 1.0 is considered non-free according to this policy.
The Free Art License is categorized as free on Free Software Foundation, Inc.'s license list and the list of licenses that meet the Definition of Free Cultural Works. However, the Debian Project has identified multiple potential problems in the interpretation of the license terms and lists the license as one "whose status is unsettled", which for the purposes of this policy makes the license non-free according to this resource. Again, at least one resource lists it as non-free, so the Free Art License is considered non-free according to this policy.
The SIL Open Font License is considered non-free according to this policy, despite its classification as free in Free Software Foundation, Inc.'s license list, the Fedora Project's approved licenses list, the Open Source Initiative's approved licenses list, and the list of licenses that meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) is a non-profit organization incorporated in the United States of America. The FSF has published a document titled "Various Licenses and Comments about Them" that lists copyright licenses in various categories.
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered free by this resource:
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered non-free by this resource:
The Fedora Project is the community that develops the Fedora GNU/Linux distribution, sponsored by Red Hat, Inc. The Fedora Project maintains a list of acceptable licenses under which software may be included in Fedora.
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered free by this resource:
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered non-free by this resource:
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit organization incoroporated in the United States of America. The OSI has published the Open Source Definition, a set of criteria that qualify software packages as "open source". The OSI maintains a list of licenses that it has approved for the "open source" label via its License Review Process.
For the purposes of this policy, all licenses listed in the referenced document are considered free by this resource.
The Debian Project is the community that develops the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, sponsored by Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI). The Debian Project ratified the Debian Social Contract, including the Debian Free Software Guidelines, a set of requirements for software packages to be included as official parts of Debian. The Debian Project maintains a list of licenses that meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered free by this resource:
For the purposes of this policy, licenses listed in the referenced document under the following categories are considered non-free by this resource:
For the avoidance of doubt, the GNU Free Documentation License is considered free by this resource when it is applied with no invariant sections.
The Definition of Free Cultural Works was initiated by Erik Möller and co-initiated by Benjamin Mako Hill. Along with the definition itself is published a list of licenses that meet the definition.
For the purposes of this policy, all licenses listed in the referenced document are considered free by this resource.
Software packages the use or distribution of which is unlawful may not be included in this distribution.