spdx / spdx/Spdx-Java-Library

Unexpected behavior comparing SPDX documents with no local LicenseRef text

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wontfix
Dominant language
Java
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Forks
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

When comparing 2 SPDX documents with a LicenseRef containing no text, the comparison of those LicenseRef's is false, but no explanation is given.

We probably do not want them to match since we don't have the text to compare, but we could list them in the Extracted Licenses tab as EMPTY.

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the SPDX document comparison logic for LicenseRef values with no local text, then inspect how those licenses are represented in the Extracted Licenses tab. Reproduce the false comparison and determine whether the completed behavior should explain the mismatch, display the entries as EMPTY, or both.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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