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2026

Glossary

The words DALICC uses in a sense of its own: what a record is and how it differs from the license it models, the kinds of related records, the states a license can be in, where a statement comes from, and what a check reports.

The same entries close the user manual.

Terms on this page

Adopted

The status of a default rule the library applies as its own convention. One rule is adopted: in the core graph, a license that says nothing about endorsement grants no right to use the licensor's name or marks to endorse a product. A finding that rests on it reads by default rule (adopted). See proposed.

Conflict

In a compatibility check, two statements that no combined work can meet together: one license requires what another prohibits, two duties cannot both be met, or two licenses each require the whole work to stay under themselves and no "or later" option or compatibility clause leads from one to the other (GPL-2.0-only and GPL-3.0-only). One conflict makes the verdict Cannot be combined. Compare restriction.

Default rule

A statement of a dependency graph about an act a license says nothing about: which act, what applies to it (not granted, granted, required, or a term the law does not let a license set aside), in which territory, and the statute or principle it rests on. A default rule is not part of any record. A check supplies it only for a license that is silent, and every finding says which side came from the text and which from a rule. Each rule is either adopted or proposed. None of it is legal advice.

Dependency graph

What the checks reason with: the statements about how the actions relate to each other (Grant use is the same act as Sublicense, Distribute is included in Use) and the default rules. The core graph is the one a check uses when you choose nothing; seven jurisdiction graphs add the rules proposed for one market each. Section 18 has the details.

Edition

The same license text reissued by another body in the same legal system, for example the Open Supreme Court Licence as an edition of the UK Open Government Licence. The record page says Edition of and names the license it reissues, which lists the edition under Jurisdiction ports and editions.

Exception

A variant that reads a license together with an SPDX exception, which lifts one of its conditions. GPL-2.0-only-with-Classpath-exception-2.0 is GPL-2.0-only with the Classpath exception, which lets independent modules linked with the covered code be distributed under terms of their own.

License

The legal text a licensor publishes: the words that grant the rights and set the conditions. DALICC does not hold licenses as texts; it holds records of them, and links each record to its text. When the home page counts licenses, it counts the distinct legal texts the library models.

License owner

The account that holds a license composed on DALICC. It publishes the license, shares it, starts new versions and can withdraw it. DALICC does not check that this account holds the rights it licenses, and it does not review the terms. A curated record has no License owner; the association maintains it.

Port

Short for jurisdiction port: a license adapted to the law of one country, such as Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Austria. A port has a record of its own, and the library lists it folded under the license it comes from. DALICC groups the Creative Commons ports of versions 2.0 to 3.0 under the 4.0 International license of the same elements, although their texts differ from it.

Proposed

The status of every default rule but one: a reading of the law put forward for the association's legal reviewer, a role that is not yet filled. The 27 rules of the seven jurisdiction graphs are proposed. A proposed rule applies only when you choose its graph, and a finding that rests on one reads by default rule (proposed). In a review record, a finding marked proposed suggests a change to the record that nobody has decided yet.

Record

DALICC's machine-readable model of one license: what it permits, prohibits and requires, the clauses it quotes, and where the legal text is. Every record has its own identifier and permanent address, https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/<id>. One license can have several records, one for itself and one for each port, edition or variant. The record is published under CC BY 4.0; the license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Restriction

In a compatibility check, one license permits an act that another prohibits. The works can still be combined, but the combined work may not do that act. The MIT License permits changing the license and GPL-3.0 prohibits it, so MIT code can go into a GPL-3.0 work and the result stays under GPL-3.0. A license that names another as compatible gives the restriction "The combined work has to be released under" that license. Restrictions alone make the verdict Can be combined with restrictions. Compare conflict.

Rider

A variant that adds a condition to a license. Apache-2.0-with-Commons-Clause is the Apache License 2.0 with the Commons Clause, which withholds the right to sell the software.

Statement origin

Where a permission, a prohibition or a duty comes from. The record page marks each one:

  • from the text: the library's reading of a sentence of the license. Where the record keeps that sentence, the "?" beside the statement quotes it.
  • by library convention: the text is not explicit, and the library states it for every license of the kind. The "?" names the convention, for example a family rule.
  • by default rule: not a statement of the license at all, but one a default rule of the dependency graph supplies because the license is silent, marked (proposed) or (adopted).

Superseded

A version that a newer version replaces. The page of the old version says A newer version exists and links the new one. Its address keeps working, and rights already granted under it are not affected by the new version. Compare withdrawn.

Variant

A record that models the legal text of another record with one thing changed. There are three kinds: the or-later form of a license (GPL-2.0-or-later beside GPL-2.0-only), an exception and a rider. Unlike a port, a variant is a license of its own: listed, searched and counted like any other, and its page names the record it varies.

Withdrawn

A license its publisher no longer offers for new uses. The License owner or an administrator sets it with Withdraw this license on the manage page. The page says Withdrawn by its publisher and gives the date. Nothing is deleted: the terms stay readable, and whether rights already granted continue is decided by the license's own terms. Compare superseded.