Shaun McCance
shaunm@gnome.org 2008-2009
Provide information about the licensing terms of the material.

# License Information

    mal_info_license = element license {
      attribute href { text } ?,
      attribute * - (mal:* | local:*) { text } *,

      mal_block +
    }

The `license` element can be used to provide information about the licensing terms of the material in a page or section. The `href` attribute can be used to uniquely identify certain licenses.

# Notas

The `license` element can contain any general block content.

The `license` element can occur in any `info` element.

The `href` attribute can be used to provide a URI which uniquely identifies the license terms.

The `license` element can have attributes from external namespaces. See for more information on external-namespace attributes.

# Processing Expectations

The `license` is not necessarily displayed on the page in which it appears. Some tools may display license information on a separate informational page or dialog. When it is displayed, its contents are treated as block content.

There is no requirement that the URI `href` will actually be displayed, or that the `href` attribute will cause a link to be displayed. If authors wish to ensure that an external resource is linked to, they should add a link into the block content. Processing tools may recognize certain license URIs for special processing. This could be used, for instance, to place a license badge at the bottom of a displayed page for certain common licenses.

# Comparison to Other Formats

DocBook contains the more general-purpose `legalnotice` element, which is frequently used to include licensing terms. The `license` element is intended mostly for redistribution terms, which are not immediately relevent to most readers. When it is important that readers see certain legal information, authors should provide that information in the main content, possibly on a separate page.