Where are the SPDX Matching Guidelines?

[vargenau]

In licenseText, it says:

Users of the licenseText for a License can apply the SPDX Matching Guidelines when comparing it to another text for matching purposes.

I cannot find the Matching Guidelines in the SPDX 3.0 spec.

[zvr]

They are not part of the spec. They are part of the SPDX License List, at https://spdx.org/licenses/

[vargenau]

Hi @zvr

They were part of the spec. It was Annex B in SPDX 2.3.

And in https://spdx.org/licenses/ the link "matching guidelines" points to SPDX 2.3.

It should be clarified.

[zvr]

Yes, in SPDXv2 the License List was part of the spec. In SPDXv3 it's not.

I agree that it should be stated in the changes between versions 2 and 3.

[bact]

The text in the first paragraph of https://spdx.org/licenses/ should also be edited as well.

Currently it says:

The SPDX License List is an integral part of the SPDX Specification.

[vargenau]

Thank you @zvr

What we should do:

• create a web page containing the matching guidelines independent of SPDX 2.3
• have a link in licenseText to this page
• document in https://spdx.github.io/spdx-spec/v3.0/annexes/diffs-from-previous-editions/ that the license list and the matching guidelines are no longer part of the spec.

[bact]

Will be fixed by https://github.com/spdx/spdx-spec/pull/968