<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
</head>
<body>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Hi McCoy,</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Let me start with the several parts of the license topic. As you may know, OSI approved Python-2.0 in exactly this form:
<a href="https://opensource.org/license/Python-2.0" data-outlook-id="07836d44-e1f5-4470-bccb-a85505343d74">
https://opensource.org/license/Python-2.0</a></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It contains the PSF, the BeOpen.com, the CNRI, and the CWI parts. The Python-2.0.1 version SPDX lists on their website (
<a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/Python-2.0.1.html" data-outlook-id="3b3b75e2-69a7-4e97-86a7-a5f68b7ffe25">
https://spdx.org/licenses/Python-2.0.1.html</a> )</span><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> has the very same structure. To not confuse consumers of OSI</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">s licensing information more than necessary and
avoid conflicts with SPDX</span>s data<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, I would suggest to make an exception to the generally advisable rule you mentioned.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
The same applies to CNRI-Python and the requested CNRI-Python-GPL-Compliant. Its probably not used in the wild, but as the old version once has been approved and is the main reason why Python-2.0 is GPL-incompatible, an exception is acceptable IMHO.</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Now, to the license text itself. As written in my initial message, Ive attached the license text that SPDX communicates as Python-2.0.1, based on the text file in their license-list-data repo:
<a href="https://github.com/spdx/license-list-data/blob/main/text/Python-2.0.1.txt" data-outlook-id="c385b1af-0d1d-4eb6-afa3-a54b0412037d">
https://github.com/spdx/license-list-data/blob/main/text/Python-2.0.1.txt</a></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
How to spot the difference? Python-2.0 often refers to Python 1.6b1, while Python-2.0.1 refers to Python 1.6.1 - the version, with which the GPL compatibility has been ensured, in the same step as Python 2.0.1.</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Regarding the differences, the history itself is shortly explained by PSF/python.org here in their current licensing document as well as the 2.0.1 release notes:
<a href="https://docs.python.org/3/license.html" data-outlook-id="e89f6f8e-e803-4535-ac55-5c71993cd475">
https://docs.python.org/3/license.html</a> / <a href="https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-201/" data-outlook-id="70ab63e1-e6d2-4d7d-9890-b7a3698735d1">
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-201/</a></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To ease your review, Ive created a diff using GitHubs diff display, which you can set to Split and Unified. Please see the diff of revision 5 (the latest at the moment of writing) here:
<a href="https://gist.github.com/mxmehl/d3e8694e30fc94cc6517529b5441ebc5/revisions?diff=split&w" data-outlook-id="410dff94-f51d-4ba7-957d-0a972e9cf956">
https://gist.github.com/mxmehl/d3e8694e30fc94cc6517529b5441ebc5/revisions?diff=split&w</a></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
>From my understanding, aside from small wording and typographical edits as well as version and year bumps, the most significant content-wise change is in CNRI point 7 which heals the cause of GPL incompatibility (Virginia clause).</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
More analysis and interpretation has been collected in the license-discuss@ thread as well as the GitHub issues and SPDX mailing lists threads mentioned in my initial messages, so I wont repeat them here.</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Regarding work with the Python folks: my understanding from a multi-year effort to get PSF to finally get their license OSI approved is that they dont have the resources (and seemingly little interest), so Deb agreed I can make this move in March 2026. I understand
this isnt optimal for OSI, but given that the license of one of the most used programming languages hasnt been OSI-approved since 25 years hopefully warrants some tolerance. </div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Best,</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Max </div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: inherit; background-color: inherit;" id="ms-outlook-mobile-signature">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: black;">
<br>
</div>
</div>
<div id="mail-editor-reference-message-container" style="color: inherit; background-color: inherit;">
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr;">
</div>
<div style="padding: 3pt 0in 0in; border-width: 1pt medium medium; border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) currentcolor currentcolor;">
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="text-align: left; font-family: Aptos; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">
<b>From: </b>License-review <license-review-bounces@lists.opensource.org> on behalf of McCoy Smith <mccoy@lexpan.law><br>
<b>Date: </b>Friday, 15. May 2026 at 02:02<br>
<b>To: </b>license-review@lists.opensource.org <license-review@lists.opensource.org><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [License-review] Submission: Python-2.0.1<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<p class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing">Max:</p>
<p class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing">The file you attached appears to be the 2.0 version of the Python license not the 2.0.1 version, although the diff file appears to reflect the 2.0.1 version. Also, the 2.0.1 version seems to incorporate
the CNRI-GPL compatible portion, which you've also separately asked to be approved (it is not clear to me if this is intended to be a request to approve it as a separate stand-alone license or as just a component of the Python 2.0.1. license; this is somewhat
complicated by these licenses appearing to be concatenations of a list of multiple different licenses).</p>
<p class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing">I understand that the Python licensing situation seems to be a mess, and the approvals at SPDX and OSI may not comport with long-standing licensing practice, but I think if there's a request for approval
is required, we'd need to know exactly what actual licenses need approval (OSI doesn't approve separate parts of licenses, unless they are themselves stand-alone licenses being used in that way), and have a clear understanding of are the differences between
older licenses that have been approved and what the current license for which approval is requested. Frankly, I'm having a real hard time doing that (the diff file isn't helping much as it doesn't really highlight differences, it just shows whole blocks that
might or might not be identical being swapped out). I tried to do a compare in LibreOffice between what looks like 2.0.1. and 2.0 but that didn't help either.</p>
<p class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing">Could you work with the folks at Python to put together a clearer explanation of what is the license or licenses that Python is using, how they differ from the license or licenses that have been approved
in the past, and why those changes were made? I'm not sure what OSI has now is sufficient for us to make an intelligent analysis and decision on the various Python licenses.</p>
<p class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing">McCoy Smith</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/20/2026 9:13 AM, Max Mehl wrote:</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Dear all,</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Following a <a href="https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/2026-March/022526.html" data-outlook-id="f56ac280-833e-4490-a519-14120104b2c7">
discussion on license-discuss@</a> and a quick coordination with Deb from the Python Software Foundation (in Cc), I would like to propose that Python-2.0.1 be considered an officially approved (legacy) Open Source license. In the same step, I propose to mark
Python-2.0 as either Superseded or <span style="font-family: Aptos; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Voluntarily Retired.</span></div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In parallel, I propose the same for CNRI-Python-GPL-Compatible, for which I opened a separate thread.</span></div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
I will not repeat all the backstory but refer to the aforementioned discussion and
<a href="https://github.com/spdx/license-list-XML/issues/2197" data-outlook-id="9d27bd56-426e-4c0d-b3c4-d089b30dcffd">
spdx/license-list-XML#2197</a>. In short: Python-2.0.1 is the license that most closely represents the license under which CPython has been
<a href="https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-201/" data-outlook-id="9803771c-f3dd-4c85-af65-dd2c1ba73de8">
published since 2001</a> (in combination with 0BSD for documentation). In comparison with Python-2.0, which is already OSI approved, the most remarkable difference is an update in the CNRI portion to make it GPL compatible.</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Attached, you will find the license text for Python-2.0.1 as made available by SPDX, as well as a diff file against Python-2.0 (ignoring formatting and some non-critical boilerplate texts to make things easier for you).</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Best,</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Max </div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div id="ms-outlook-mobile-signature" style="color: inherit; background-color: inherit;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;">-- </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><b>Max Mehl</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;">Open Source / Supply Chain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;">Enterprise-Team Chief Technology Office (CTO)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;">DB Systel GmbH / Deutsche Bahn</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;">Schedule a meeting: <a href="https://cal.com/mxmehl" data-outlook-id="4bf758be-12c8-40e6-b18a-99718d15ab49" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">
cal.com/mxmehl</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><br>
</span></p>
</div>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing" style="direction: ltr;">
<br>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message skipProofing"><br>
<a href="https://www.deutschebahn.com/pflichtangaben/20260319" data-outlook-id="ace3e280-b056-43d9-8306-d4eaf721fd80">Pflichtangaben anzeigen</a><br>
<br>
Nhere Informationen zur Datenverarbeitung im DB-Konzern finden Sie hier: <a href="https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/konzern/datenschutz" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" data-outlook-id="ddb210b6-1e7e-4de1-a34d-09651ef25841">
https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/konzern/datenschutz</a></div>
<pre><div class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Communication from the Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
License-review mailing list
<a href="mailto:License-review@lists.opensource.org" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" data-outlook-id="6d368b30-0f14-4cca-961a-9a1569cd7ba3">License-review@lists.opensource.org</a>
<a href="http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" data-outlook-id="08f8513f-bd8e-449b-875d-17143b7a3107">http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org</a>
</div></pre>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<hr>
<br>
<a href="https://www.deutschebahn.com/pflichtangaben/20260518">Pflichtangaben anzeigen</a><br>
<br>
Nhere Informationen zur Datenverarbeitung im DB-Konzern finden Sie hier: <a href="https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/konzern/datenschutz">
https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/konzern/datenschutz</a>
</body>
</html>