License incompatibility: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 documentation files conflict with Apache 2.0 license

[yizhao1]

Describe the issue

Hi boto3 maintainers,

I'd like to flag a licensing concern regarding some documentation files in the boto3 repository.

The boto3 project is licensed under Apache 2.0, but certain documentation files are licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0). These two licenses are fundamentally incompatible, which creates legal issues for downstream distributors and commercial users.

The Apache 2.0 license grants broad permissions including commercial use, modification, and redistribution. CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 conflicts with this:
NonCommercial (NC): Prohibits commercial use of the licensed material. This directly contradicts Apache 2.0's grant of commercial use rights. Downstream users who rely on the Apache 2.0 license to use boto3 commercially cannot legally use or redistribute the NC-licensed documentation as part of the project.

Impact on Downstream Users:
Linux distributions that redistribute boto3 typically require all included files to meet open-source/free software criteria. CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 does not qualify as open source per the Open Source Initiative (OSI) definition, and Debian classifies NC-licensed content as non-free.

Commercial users cannot include the NC-licensed documentation in proprietary products or paid services without obtaining a separate license.

Affected Files:

./docs/source/guide/index.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-verify.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-elastic-ip-addresses.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/kms-example-encrypt-decrypt-file.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-configuring-buckets.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-visibility-timeout.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-presigned-urls.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-managing-instances.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-creating-alarms.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-regions-avail-zones.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/kms-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-download-file.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-filters.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-mrap.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-server-certificates.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-rules.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-creating-buckets.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-access-permissions.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-using-alarms.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-users.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-privatelink.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-dead-letter-queue.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-bucket-policies.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-long-polling.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-using-queues.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-subscription-filters.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-access-keys.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-template.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-static-web-host.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-events.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-sending-receiving-msgs.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/secrets-manager.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-policies.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-account-aliases.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-key-pairs.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-security-group.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-uploading-files.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-metrics.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

My questions:

1. Is the use of CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 for these documentation files intentional?
2. If so, could you document the licensing boundary clearly in the top-level LICENSE or NOTICE file so downstream users can make informed decisions?
3. Would you consider re-licensing the documentation under a compatible license? Options include:
   • Apache 2.0
   • CC-BY-4.0
   • CC-BY-SA-4.0

Recommendation:
If the intent is simply to require attribution for documentation, CC-BY-4.0 would achieve that while remaining compatible with Apache 2.0 and open-source distribution. If copyleft for documentation is desired, CC-BY-SA-4.0 removes only the NC restriction and is widely accepted by open-source distributions.

Thank you.

Links

$ grep "NonCommercial" ./* -rnI
./docs/source/guide/index.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-verify.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-elastic-ip-addresses.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/kms-example-encrypt-decrypt-file.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-configuring-buckets.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-visibility-timeout.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-presigned-urls.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-managing-instances.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-creating-alarms.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-regions-avail-zones.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/kms-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-download-file.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-filters.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-mrap.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-server-certificates.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-rules.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-creating-buckets.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-access-permissions.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-using-alarms.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-users.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-privatelink.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-dead-letter-queue.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-bucket-policies.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-long-polling.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-using-queues.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-subscription-filters.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-access-keys.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ses-template.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-example-static-web-host.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-events.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-example-sending-receiving-msgs.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/secrets-manager.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-policies.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/iam-example-managing-account-aliases.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/sqs-examples.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-key-pairs.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/ec2-example-security-group.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/s3-uploading-files.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
./docs/source/guide/cw-example-metrics.rst:3: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

[ashovlin]

Thanks for pointing out the challenge with this license mix. We're checking with our IP team internally on how to proceed.