---
title: "REUSE: Best practices for declaring copyright and licenses"
date: 2021-03-21
categories:
  - english
  - presentation
tags:
  - REUSE
  - FSFE
headerimage:
  src: libreplanet-2021.jpg
  text: Me giving the presentation at LibrePlanet 2021
  alt: Max Mehl during his presentation at LibrePlanet 2021
  processes:
    - fill 1000x440 center webp
video: https://framatube.org/w/beb7ce0c-635f-4f54-b1c5-3f620276e54b
slides: https://download.fsfe.org/presentations/20210321-mm-LibrePlanet-REUSE.en.pdf
event:
  name: LibrePlanet 2021
  href: https://libreplanet.org/2021/speakers/#4663
---

At LibrePlanet 2021, I presented the REUSE initiative as a set of best practices for declaring copyright and licenses in Free Software projects. LibrePlanet is the Free Software Foundation's annual conference celebrating software freedom, making it an ideal venue to discuss how REUSE helps uphold the principles that the community values most. The talk focused on how clear licensing and copyright information benefits both developers and users of Free Software.

I explained the three core REUSE rules: including copyright and licensing information in each file, providing full license texts, and confirming full REUSE adoption by running an easy check. The presentation showed practical examples of how projects can implement these practices incrementally, demonstrated the REUSE helper tool for automated compliance checking, and discussed how REUSE aligns with Free Software philosophy by ensuring that software freedom is clearly documented and easily verifiable.

The talk resonated especially well with the LibrePlanet audience, as many attendees work on software freedom advocacy and understand first-hand how licensing ambiguity can undermine the goals of Free Software.
