Public Domain License File

[ajhenry]

Would it be possible to create a license file in the repo so that it can be picked up by automated tools like https://clearlydefined.io?

[ajhenry]

The public domain license is typically under the CC0-1.0 license so that should work

https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/
https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0

Or even MIT-0
https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT-0.html

[ljharb]

I don't think it would be viable to create a license file for something that isn't an explicit SPDX identifier without explicit consent/confirmation from @douglascrockford and @substack - and i suspect that obtaining either would be quite difficult.

[albertodiazdorado]

Hi @ljharb , why would you need consent/confirmation from them? Did you get the implementation from them?

[ljharb]

@albertodiazdorado I didn't - i'm not the original creator of the package - but in order to legally relicense any code, you either need explicit permission or a CLA from every contributor, and I have neither from any.

[HSH73]

@ljharb:

1. I understood that jsonify is an implementation of Douglas Crockford's JSON Format.
2. JSON has been dedicated by Douglas Crockford to be "public domain" (see the many remarks on https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js/issues?q=license).
3. I understood your comment above that this is why you feel not beeing able to create a license file for "jsonify" - given you are just implementing something that is public domain. Which is correct in a sense, you cannot "license" Douglas Crockford's work differently if the original author has made it to "public domain".
4. However, the catch might be that you could have created some own work with the implementation. Even if the original work is made availalbe by someone else as "public domain", your "implementation" might form an own work of authorship. At least theoretically, and I understand that if looking at https://github.com/ljharb/jsonify/blob/v0.0.0/index.js you might not feel to have contributed that much to Crockford's work leading to some copyright of your own.
5. Which would leave us in a pickle, given we have no "license".
6. Therefore, it might make sense to confirm somewhere that "your" portion/implementation is made available (as well) as "public domain", without changing Mr. Crockford's own public domain dedication (this is my understanding of what you are doing - releasing the whole as public domain).

[ljharb]

That is a sound theory - but I’m not the “you” in your comment. This package was created by @substack who is no longer participating in open source, so they are who would have to make that decision, not me.