x/pkgsite: Requesting BSL inclusion

[jsimnz]

What did you do?

Tried to access documentation for a Business Source License 1.1 (BSL 1.1) repo.

What did you expect to see?

Generated documentation.

What did you see instead?

Unsupported due to licensing restrictions

--

I'm seeking to have my (and potentially all) repo(s) included in pkg.go.dev that uses the BSL 1.1 license. https://mariadb.com/bsl11/

The BSL 1.1 license is becoming very popular for open source projects that are also balancing commercialization priorities. Although it is not an official OSI license, it does have the endorsement from Bruce Perens[0] who is the founder of the OSI Foundation. Additionally, it automatically converts to an "official" OSI license after a period of no more than 4 years from release. Finally, it's designed around an "Additional Use Grant" which my self (and Im sure other repo authors) would be happy to make inclusions to accomodate pkgsite.

These repos are fundamentally open-source / source available, so it's unfortunate that the current structure of pkg.go.dev doesn't support them.

[0] - https://perens.com/2017/02/14/bsl-1-1/#:~:text=So%2C%20there%20can,works%20Open%20Source.

[jamalc]

We have forwarded this request and are waiting to hear back from our legal team.

[jsimnz]

Appreciate the update, looking forward.

[jsimnz]

@jamalc any update on this? Thanks.

[gopherbot]

Change https://go.dev/cl/491775 mentions this issue: static/frontend/license-policy: clarify license addition requirement

[hyangah]

Thank you for your patience.
We discussed with the legal team and learned we cannot add BSL to the list now.

Our license policy (https://pkg.go.dev/license-policy) is updated to clarify that
we currently accept only OSI-approved licenses.

[willfaught]

@hyangah Then shouldn't BlueOak-1.0.0 and the CC licenses be removed from that list? They aren't OSI-approved.

[cespare]

@willfaught the policy doesn't say that the list can only contain OSI-approved licenses. It says that being OSI-approved is a requirement for adding new licenses to the list.

[jsimnz]

@hyangah was there specific items about the BSL that is preventing it from being approved that you can share, other than not being OSI-approved?

[hyangah]

@jsimnz The biggest challenge in adding a new non-OSI-approved license to the pkg.go.dev side is the need for manual reviews. We also discussed with the legal team the option of utilizing BSL's additional use grant section, but that will still need legal persons' review and involvement, which unfortunately we cannot do at this moment.

@willfaught We added a few non-OSI licenses at the time of the pkg.go.dev launch after manual reviews on each license (and many rounds of discussion between the go team and the legal team), and they are grandfathered.