View source for Wiki Revamp/Content Licensing

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MoinMoin 1.9 is no longer supported in Debian and MoinMoin 2.0 is still in development, so we're taking the opportunity to switch this wiki to MediaWiki. As part of that process, we are trying to resolve the licensing issue with site content.

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Contents

# [[#Choice_of_license{{!}}Choice of license]]
# [[#Old_content{{!}}Old content]]
# [[#New_content{{!}}New content]]

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Since 24 July 2025, new content on the existing wiki uses [[copyright.html|CC BY-SA 4.0]] unless otherwise noted, so non-copyrighted work will gradually be replaced even without migrating. Content before then was added to a wiki that had switched from ZWiki to kwiki to MoinMoin over the years, so we can reasonably assume users won't object to another change of platform. But this seems like a good time to tackle the issue ''before'' it's urgent.

=== Choice of license ===

The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license was agreed upon between participants in the mailing list and IRC because:

* it is designed for and applies to content, rather than other licenses that are aimed at software
* it requires [https://wiki.debian.org/copyright.html#Re-use_of_content attribution] for contributors' hard work
* it ensures any adaptations of the work remain CC BY-SA 4.0, preventing someone taking the work and making it proprietary
* it is relatively permissive and is compatible with GPL-3

'''Why not public domain / CC Zero?''' The license chosen should generally require attribution. Virtually no content from other sources/sites could be copied to the wiki because nothing is compatible with public domain except other public domain content.

'''Why not Expat (MIT)?''' This license is intended for software. Licenses like the Creative Commons licenses were created specifically with non-software works in mind. Note that the Debian website (www.debian.org) uses this though.

'''Why not GFDL?''' In 2006, Debian Developers [https://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_001 moved a General Resolution] that concluded the GFDL is not a DFSG-compatible license, except when it is used without any of its invariant options. It is also much more restrictive, reducing the possibility of using wiki content elsewhere, like manual pages or official documentation.

'''Why not CC's NC or ND options?''' These are not DFSG-compatible.

See also: ''[https://lists.debian.org/debian-wiki/2025/07/msg00005.html Re: Content licensing]''

=== Old content ===

@maytham is leading an ongoing [https://salsa.debian.org/Maytha8/wiki-relicensing/ relicensing effort] to contact previous contributors and obtain permission for their work to be relicensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

=== New content ===

Notices have been added to the current wiki so that any contribution submitted after 24 July 2025 00:00 UTC is released under the CC BY-SA 4.0, ''unless otherwise noted''. A [[copyright.html|copyright.html]] page has also been written up with details on how to be compliant with the license

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[[CategoryMigration|CategoryMigration]]