CDLA-Permissive-2.0 is a short agreement for sharing open data. It allows recipients to use, modify, and share covered data under its terms, while leaving the use and sharing of computational results—including a trained model—unrestricted by the agreement. Its main condition applies when the data itself is redistributed: make the agreement text available with it.
What CDLA-Permissive-2.0 is
The Community Data License Agreement (CDLA) is a set of agreements for sharing data. The Linux Foundation announced CDLA-Permissive-2.0 on 22 June 2021; the CDLA project identifies its release as June 2021. The project describes version 2.0 as a substantial rewrite of version 1.0, intended to make the terms shorter and clearer for data scientists and lawyers while supporting broad use of open data, including in AI and machine-learning work.
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The agreement is permissive, not a requirement to publish changes or license a model under the same terms. Its permissions and conditions concern Data and Results as defined by the agreement; they do not settle every legal question that may arise from using a particular dataset.
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Section 1.1 says a Data Recipient may use, modify, and share Data made available by a Data Provider, provided the recipient follows the agreement. Section 2.1 allows sharing Data with or without modifications, so CDLA-Permissive-2.0 does not require a recipient to pass dataset changes downstream under the same license.
When sharing Data, the recipient must make the agreement text available with it. The Linux Foundation characterizes this as the agreement’s only obligation when sharing Data. Version 2.0 does not impose a separate attribution-notice requirement: the CDLA FAQ says mandatory attribution was deliberately removed to reduce friction when resharing datasets. The agreement’s disclaimer language should remain available with the shared Data.
What it means for AI and machine learning
Section 3.1 states that the agreement imposes no restrictions or obligations on the use, modification, or sharing of Results. The CDLA FAQ says a trained machine-learning model will typically be a Result. Accordingly, training on CDLA-Permissive-2.0 data does not, under this agreement, require you to release the trained model, license it under CDLA, or share insights generated through analysis.
That is a statement about this agreement, not a universal ruling on model training. Copyright, privacy, publicity rights, contractual restrictions, export controls, and the dataset’s provenance may independently affect whether and how data can be used. CDLA-Permissive-2.0 cannot grant rights a provider does not have or cure problems in upstream ownership or privacy compliance. Check those issues separately, especially when data contains personal information or came with additional terms.
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- Confirm the governing terms. Check that the dataset is actually offered under CDLA-Permissive-2.0 and identify any other terms that apply to its components or source material.
- Keep provenance records. Record where the dataset came from, which license applies, and any additional restrictions or permissions relevant to your use.
- Include the agreement when sharing Data. Make the text of CDLA-Permissive-2.0 available with the redistributed dataset, whether you share it unchanged or modified. Preserve the agreement’s disclaimer language.
- Review other legal requirements independently. Assess privacy, copyright, contractual, regulatory, and other applicable issues; the CDLA agreement does not resolve them.
The agreement does not require attribution as a condition of redistribution, but maintaining provenance records is a useful way to track what rights and obligations apply across a dataset. That recordkeeping practice is distinct from a license-mandated attribution notice.
Compatibility with CC0 and other licenses
The CDLA project’s compatibility page lists CC0-1.0 as compatible with CDLA-Permissive-2.0, provided the CDLA-Permissive-2.0 text is made available when CDLA-covered Data is redistributed. This specific compatibility statement should not be extended to every Creative Commons license, government data instrument, database license, or proprietary agreement.
If you combine datasets, check the terms for each source and consider how the combined collection will be redistributed. A license that works for one component may not answer what conditions apply to another, and the CDLA agreement does not override the terms attached to other material.
How version 2.0 compares with other options
| Agreement or license | What is established | Practical implication |
|---|---|---|
| CDLA-Permissive-2.0 | Allows use, modification, and sharing of Data under its terms. Sharing Data requires making the agreement text available; no mandatory attribution notice is added. Results are unrestricted by the agreement. | Consider it for a new open-data collaboration when these terms fit the project and the provider can grant the relevant rights. |
| CDLA-Permissive-1.0 | Remains a valid agreement. It has more detailed provisions and attribution-style requirements than version 2.0. | The CDLA project recommends considering version 2.0 for new collaborations; existing version 1.0 data should still be handled under the terms that actually apply. |
| CC0-1.0 | The CDLA compatibility page lists it as compatible, subject to making the CDLA-Permissive-2.0 text available with redistributed CDLA Data. | This listed compatibility does not establish compatibility with other licenses or resolve rights in every component of a mixed dataset. |
For catalogues, manifests, and license-scanning tools, the SPDX identifier is CDLA-Permissive-2.0. An identifier helps label the agreement but does not replace checking the actual dataset terms and provenance.
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For a new collaboration, assess whether the project wants broad permission to use, modify, and share data without a mandatory attribution notice, while requiring the agreement text to accompany redistributed Data. The CDLA project recommends considering version 2.0 rather than version 1.0 for new collaborations. Before choosing it, verify that the data provider has authority to offer the data under the agreement and that separate privacy, copyright, contractual, and regulatory obligations are addressed.
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