#NAME

Software::License::Custom - custom license handler

#VERSION

version 0.104006

#DESCRIPTION

This module extends Software::License to give the possibility of specifying all aspects related to a software license in a custom file. This allows for setting custom dates, notices, etc. while still preserving compatibility with all places where Software::License is used, e.g. Dist::Zilla.

In this way, you should be able to customise some aspects of the licensing messages that would otherwise be difficult to tinker, e.g. adding a note in the notice, setting multiple years for the copyright notice or set multiple authors and/or copyright holders.

The license details should be put inside a file that contains different sections. Each section has the following format:

#header line: This is a line that begins and ends with two underscores __. The string between the begin and the end of the line is first depured of any non-word character, then used as the name of the section;
#body: a Text::Template (possibly a plain text file) where items to be expanded are enclosed between double braces

Each section is terminated by the header of the following section or by the end of the file. Example:

__[ NAME ]__
The Foo-Bar License
__URL__
http://www.example.com/foo-bar.txt
__[ META_NAME ]__
foo_bar_meta
__{ META2_NAME }__
foo_bar_meta2
__{ SPDX_EXPRESSION }__
foo_bar_spdx_expression
__[ NOTICE ]__
Copyright (C) 2000-2002 by P.R. Evious
Copyright (C) {{$self->year}} by {{$self->holder}}.

This is free software, licensed under {{$self->name}}.

__[ LICENSE ]__
            The Foo-Bar License

Well... this is only some sample text.  Verily... only sample text!!!

Yes, spanning more lines and more paragraphs.

The different formats for specifying the section name in the example above are only examples, you're invited to use a consistent approach.

#PERL VERSION

This module is part of CPAN toolchain, or is treated as such. As such, it follows the agreement of the Perl Toolchain Gang to require no newer version of perl than one released in the last ten years. This version may change by agreement of the Toolchain Gang, but for now is governed by the Lancaster Consensus of 2013 and the Lyon Amendment of 2023 (described at the linked-to document).

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.

#METHODS

#new

my $slc = Software::License::Custom->new({filename => 'LEGAL'});

Create a new object. Arguments are passed through an anonymous hash, the following keys are allowed:

filename - the file where the custom software license details are stored

#load_sections_from

$slc->load_sections_from('MY-LEGAL-ASPECTS');

Loads the different sections of the license from the provided filename.

Returns the input object.

#section_data

my $notice_template_reference = $slc->section_data('NOTICE');

Returns a reference to a textual template that can be fed to Text::Template (it could be simple text), according to what is currently loaded in the object.

#MORE METHODS

The following methods, found in all software license classes, look up and render the template with the capitalized form of their name. In other words, the license method looks in the LICENSE template.

For now, the meta_name and meta2_name methods return custom if called on the class. This may become fatal in the future.

name
url
meta_name
meta2_name
license
notice
fulltext
version

#AUTHOR

Ricardo Signes <cpan@semiotic.systems>

#COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

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