Does this package include licenses into the application or dynamically load them from GitHub?

[dominikmayer]

If I use AcknowListSwiftUIView(acknowList: AcknowParser.defaultPackages()!), would that include the license text in the application bundle or would it dynamically load and display the text from GitHub?

The latter case would in my understanding go against the text of many licenses (MIT, …) and therefore not be compliant.

[vtourraine]

That’s an interesting question... SPM packages don’t include the license text, so yes, it will try to load it from GitHub.

Can you highlight the relevant part of the license here? To be clear: AcknowList’s goal isn’t to offer license compliance, it just tries to make it easier to include those licenses and related acknowledgments.

[dominikmayer]

Can you highlight the relevant part of the license here?

For the MIT license it would be this part:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

I don't see why binary forms wouldn't be considered "substantial portions of the Software". And "included" is quite clear. It does not mean "accessible with Internet connection".

Others seem to agree:

• https://writing.kemitchell.com/2016/09/21/MIT-License-Line-by-Line.html
• https://osr.finos.org/docs/osr-resources/oslc-licenses

So I understand that AcknowList’s goal is not license compliance but if I still need to provide the license in another way, doesn't it kind of defy the purpose of (also) using AcknowList? Honest question.

[vtourraine]

That makes total sense. I’m actually curious if this has been discussed on the SPM project itself, now.

As for AcknowList, it can still help you include those licenses into your app. But with SPM (as opposed to CocoaPods), you’ll need to manually import/define/hardcode those licenses. Here’s an example.

[dominikmayer]

Thanks, I'll check out the example later.

That makes total sense. I’m actually curious if this has been discussed on the SPM project itself, now.

I think it's not an issue for SPM as SPM does not distribute anything. SPM allows you to include software. If you include a Package.swift with package links you're not yet including licensed code. You're merely providing a way for the "consumer" to pull that licensed code.

In case the pulled code would be included in another product in either binary or source form there might be the requirement to include a license.