{"id":"GFDL-1.1-or-later","title":"GNU Free Documentation License v1.1 or later","reviewed_on":"2026-09-22","reviewer":"Giray Havur","text_source":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spdx/license-list-data/main/text/GFDL-1.1-or-later.txt","text_retrieved":true,"verdict":"created","summary":"The record models the or-later reading of version 1.1 of the GNU Free Documentation License. The legal text is the same document as GFDL-1.1-only, so the record copies that record statement for statement and changes five things: the identifier, the SPDX identifier, the title, the alternative names and dalicc:orLaterVersionOption, which is true here. dalicc:variantKind \"version-option\" and dalicc:variantOf point back at GFDL-1.1-only. Read the review of GFDL-1.1-only for what every statement is based on.","findings":[{"rubric":1,"severity":"info","field":"spdx:licenseId","description":"File name, identifier, SPDX identifier and the local name of the IRI are the same string, GFDL-1.1-or-later. SPDX gives the or-later reading an identifier of its own, which is why it is a record of its own rather than a flag on GFDL-1.1-only.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":2,"severity":"info","field":"odrl:target","description":"The odrl:target of GFDL-1.1-only is copied unchanged: one odrl:AssetCollection of dct:type dalicc:CreativeWork and dcmitype:Software.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":3,"severity":"major","field":"dalicc:orLaterVersionOption","description":"Section 10 states: \"If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License \"or any later version\" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.\" That sentence is the whole difference between this record and GFDL-1.1-only, and it is why dalicc:orLaterVersionOption is true here and false there. The clause is quoted in dalicc:additionalClauses because the base record quotes it there.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":3,"severity":"info","field":"odrl:permission","description":"Every permission of GFDL-1.1-only is copied with the same duties in the same places: dalicc:chargeDistributionFee, odrl:reproduce, odrl:distribute, odrl:display, odrl:present, odrl:modify, dalicc:ModifiedWorks, odrl:derive, cc:DerivativeWorks and cc:CommercialUse. Taking a later version is a choice the licensee makes about which text applies, not a further permission, so no permission is added.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":4,"severity":"info","field":"odrl:prohibition","description":"The four prohibitions of GFDL-1.1-only are copied: dalicc:ChangeLicense, dalicc:applyTechnicalProtectionMeasures, dalicc:promote and dalicc:sublicense.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":5,"severity":"info","field":"odrl:duty","description":"The license-wide cc:ShareAlike duty is copied, as are cc:Attribution, cc:Notice and cc:SourceCode on distribute, modify and derive and dalicc:modificationNotice and dalicc:rename on modify and derive.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":6,"severity":"info","field":"dalicc:additionalClauses","description":"The ten quoted clauses of GFDL-1.1-only are copied verbatim, including the future revisions clause of section 10. Version 1.1 gives no warranty disclaimer and no limitation of liability, so those two fields are absent here as well.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":7,"severity":"info","field":"cc:jurisdiction","description":"cc:jurisdiction dalicc:worldwide, dalicc:validityType dalicc:perpetual, dalicc:terminatesOnBreach true and dalicc:sublicenseSurvival true are copied from the base record, which took them from section 9. cc:legalcode and dct:source point at the same text as the base record, because the text is the same document.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":8,"severity":"gap","field":"dalicc:variantOf","description":"dalicc:variantOf is not defined in the vocabulary yet, so the validator reports it as an undefined DALICC term. It is the relation the library needs for a record that keeps the text of another record and changes what that text grants or requires; dalicc:jurisdictionPortOf is for ports and cannot carry it. The same holds for the dalicc:variantKind value \"version-option\", which is not in the list the vocabulary comment gives.","action":"applied"},{"rubric":8,"severity":"gap","field":"dalicc:additionalClauses","description":"The vocabulary gaps of the base record are inherited: the Invariant Sections, the Cover Texts, the Transparent copy and the History section have no term. Proposed terms dalicc:invariantSections, dalicc:coverTexts, dalicc:transparentCopy and dalicc:historySection, with the clauses quoted.","action":"none"},{"rubric":9,"severity":"info","field":"record","description":"The consistency check of app.services.composer with the axioms of dg_default returned an empty conflict list, the same result as for GFDL-1.1-only.","action":"none"},{"rubric":10,"severity":"info","field":"record","description":"Against GFDL-1.1-only the record differs in the identifier, the SPDX identifier, the title, the four alternative names, dalicc:orLaterVersionOption, dalicc:variantKind and the new dalicc:variantOf relation. Nothing else differs, which is what an or-later record is.","action":"applied"}],"family":"GNU copyleft family (GPL, LGPL, AGPL, FDL)","port_of":null,"variant_kind":"version-option","variant_of":"GFDL-1.1-only","notes":"The SPDX text for GFDL-1.1-or-later is byte for byte the text for GFDL-1.1-only; both files have the same checksum. The or-later identifier says how a document uses the license, not what the license says."}