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CryptoSwift license incorrectly identified as Zlib

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#61 1 comment 1 reaction 2 assignees View on GitHub

@AyanSinhaMahapatra is already working on this.

Since Dec 18, 2024.

Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
25/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
python, shell
Domain
databases, tooling

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported scans against CryptoSwift's CONTRIBUTING.md and LICENSE with scancode-toolkit 32.3.0, then inspect how the Zlib match is selected and compare it with the differing license wording. Done means both files receive the correct license identification and the required acknowledgment wording is represented by an appropriate identifier.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

CryptoSwift license incorrectly identified as Zlib

The CONTRIBUTING and LICENSE files of CryptoSwift are incorrectly
identified as Zlib license.

CryptoSwift: https://github.com/krzyzanowskim/CryptoSwift

Zlib: https://www.zlib.net/

Major difference

Zlib text
If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the
product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
CryptoSwift text
If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation is required.
The difference

Zlib says: appreciated but is not required
CryptoSwift: is required

This is quite a difference for users when complying with the license terms.

Additional notes

  • The CryptoSwift license needs an identifier

  • Unfortunately the LICENSE and CONTRIBUTING files have slightly different texts.

Reproducing

CONTRIBUTING file

Scanning the CONTRIBUTING file
mkdir contributing-file
cd    contributing-file
curl -LJ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krzyzanowskim/CryptoSwift/refs/heads/main/CONTRIBUTING.md | grep "^//" > CONTRIBUTING.md
cd ..
scancode -clipe \
  --license-text   --license-text-diagnostics        \
  --classify       --license-clarity-score --summary \
  -n $(cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l)   \
  --json-pp contributing-file.json contributing-file
Extracting the detected license
$ cat contributing-file.json | jq .files[].detected_license_expression_spdx
null
"Zlib"
LICENSE file
Scanning the LICENSE file
mkdir license-file
cd    license-file
curl -LJO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krzyzanowskim/CryptoSwift/refs/heads/main/LICENSE
cd ..
scancode -clipe \
  --license-text   --license-text-diagnostics        \
  --classify       --license-clarity-score --summary \
  -n $(cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l)   \
  --json-pp license-file.json license-file
Extracting the detected license
$ cat license-file.json | jq .files[].detected_license_expression_spdx
null
"Zlib"

Versions etc

  • scancode-toolkit 32.3.0
  • Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
  • Python 3.12.3
Dominant language
Makefile
Stars
70
Forks
16
No merged PRs in 30d

Getting set up

This project ships no dev container, Dockerfile or contributing guide, so setting up is up to you: start from its README, and see our first-contribution guide for the general steps.

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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