update MIT license and add guidance #10425 #8512

doc/release-notes/10425-add-MIT-License.md

@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-A new file has been added to import the MIT License to Dataverse on licenseMIT.json
+A new file has been added to import the MIT License to Dataverse: licenseMIT.json.
+
+Documentation has been added to explain the procedure for adding new licenses to the guides.

doc/sphinx-guides/source/installation/config.rst

@@ -1789,10 +1789,27 @@ JSON files for `Creative Commons licenses <https://creativecommons.org/about/ccl
 Adding Software Licenses
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-JSON files for Software Licenses are provided below.
+JSON files for software licenses are provided below.
 
 - :download:`licenseMIT.json <../../../../scripts/api/data/licenses/licenseMIT.json>`
 
+Contributing to the Collection of Standard Licenses Above
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If you do not find the license JSON you need above, you are encouraged to contribute it to this documentation. Following the Dataverse 6.2 release, we have standardized on the following procedure:
+
+- Look for the license at https://spdx.org/licenses/
+- ``cd scripts/api/data/licenses``
+- Copy an existing license as a starting point.
+- Name your file using the SPDX identifier. For example, if the identifier is ``MIT``, you should name your file ``licenseMIT.json``.
+- For the ``name`` field, use the "short identifier" from the SPDX landing page (e.g. ``MIT``).
+- For the ``description`` field, use the "full name" from the SPDX landing page (e.g. ``MIT License``).
+- For the ``uri`` field, go to the SPDX landing page for the license and click on the link under "other web pages for this license". Let any redirection happen and then copy the URL (e.g. ``https://opensource.org/license/mit``) into the ``uri`` field.
+- For the ``active`` field, put ``true``.
+- For the ``sortOrder`` field, put the next sequention number after checking previous files with ``grep sortOrder scripts/api/data/licenses/*``.
+
+Note that prior to Dataverse 6.2, various license above have been added that do not adhere perfectly with this procedure. For example, the ``name`` for the CC0 license is ``CC0 1.0`` (no dash) rather than ``CC0-1.0`` (with a dash). We are keeping the existing names for backward compatibility. For more on standarizing license configuration, see https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues/8512
+
 Adding Custom Licenses
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 

scripts/api/data/licenses/licenseMIT.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
-  "name": "MIT License",
-  "uri": "https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html",
-  "shortDescription": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology License (MIT).",
+  "name": "MIT",
+  "uri": "https://opensource.org/license/mit",
+  "shortDescription": "MIT License",
   "active": true,
   "sortOrder": 8
 }