What do the defined acronyms stand for?

[Richard Fontana]

On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM James Frost <james at frost.cx> wrote:
>
>  > I wonder if you didn't notice the definitions
>
> Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear. I've read the definitions and
> agree they define what they mean, but I was wondering what the expansion
> of the initialism were. The context is that I'm writing up some proposed
> amendments, one of which is to remove unnecessary initialisms, as they
> are often a barrier to comprehensibility, and I wanted to know what to
> put in their stead.
>
> So my point is that I think the licence would be clearer if it continued
> using "Network Service Source" and "Corresponding Source" rather than
> the initialisms, as those terms give a reasonable approximation of their
> meaning to the casual reader without having to refer to the definitions.

Oh I see. You're probably right. I don't remember but it's possible
this started out with using "CCS" and maybe I thought that that would
be understood because ... well, Bradley and I think others at the
Software Freedom Conservancy, and maybe also people at the FSF, have
used that term for "Complete Corresponding Source". Then I probably
thought of using "NSS" similarly.

>  > it's common to see a set of defined terms and most often these are at
> the beginning of the agreement.
>
> This is another thing I've noted in my review. As the definitions
> underpin the rest of the licence text, I feel that it is clearer to put
> them at the front so readers know what you are referring to when they
> read it. This probably depends on the length of your document, as a very
> long document might be better served with a glossary in a separate
> chapter at the end so that it can be easily be located when needed. The
> licence text is short enough that navigation is not a significant issue,
> so I'd have a small preference for the front, though I don't feel too
> strongly about it.

Probably most contract-drafting lawyers would agree with you. It's
possible I came to like putting definitions at the end partly to defy
convention and tradition, even though the one person I know who
prefers this doesn't strike me as a particularly unconventional
lawyer.

Richard