[License-discuss] Proposed license decision process

[Richard Fontana]

At a recent meeting, the OSI Board discussed requests to clarify the
license approval process (documented at
https://opensource.org/approval). We've drafted the guidelines below,
which we aim to follow when reviewing licenses, to ensure that a
license will be approved only if it conforms to the Open Source
Definition and provides software freedom.

"Decision Date" for a license normally means (a) 60 days after a
license is initially submitted for review, and (b) 30 days after
submission of a revised version of a license that was previously
submitted for review. A license is considered to be submitted for
review if it follows the process set forth at
https://opensource.org/approval. While we will try our best to adhere
strictly to this 60/30 day Decision Date definition, circumstances may
require us to extend the Decision Date further.

On the Decision Date, the OSI will announce one of four possible decisions:

1. Defer for another 30-day discussion cycle, if community discussion
of conformance of the license to the OSD remains active

2. Approve, if (a) there is sufficient consensus emerging from
community discussion that approval is justified, and (b) the OSI
determines that the license conforms to the Open Source Definition and
guarantees software freedom

3. Reject if (a) the OSI determines that the license cannot
practically be remedied to adequately guarantee software freedom, or
(b) there is sufficient consensus emerging from community discussion
that the license should be rejected for substantive reasons, or (c)
the license is problematic for nonsubstantive reasons (for example, it
is poorly drafted or significantly duplicative of one or more existing
OSI-approved licenses)

4. Withhold approval, if (a) the OSI determines that approval would
require reworking the license and (b) the license submitter appears
willing and able to revise the license constructively

We would appreciate your comments.

- Richard