I have a Rust project that compiles to wasm and delivered over the web.
The dependency tree uses a number of MIT / BSD licensed crates.
Am I now required to copy all the MIT / BSD licenses into an Help -> About this software dialog ?
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Definitely not a question for the Rust forum as it is about general licensing in the world of software engineering, but you might want to consider the following:
For the MIT, it explicitly states: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
So in regards to your question when it comes to it, the answer is "yes, you should", as even the compiled version of your project represents a "copy" or a "substantial portion of the software". Nowhere does it bind you to put it only in "About" dialog in the app, though.
You can create a separate UI dialog, aptly named "Licensing" and include all the information you need, including the dependencies you've used to build your project, if you feel like sharing.
In case of BSD:
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Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Therefore, if you're not sharing your source code, you will only have to include the same license "in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution". What is to be considered "documentation" and/or "other materials" is omitted, and is thus subject to open interpretation. Regardless, posting it in your new "Licensing" dialog is not going to hurt.
Generally, these licenses are used to avoid any kind of responsibility in case of a project or a library being misused, which is precisely what gets highlighted EACH AND EVERY SINGLE TIME IN ALL THE LICENSES OF THE SIMILAR KIND. If you're just releasing an alpha version of a compiled WASM binary for people to test out, worrying about licensing issues is definitely an overkill.
If you're about to blow up and there are millions of users waiting for the launch of your app, on the other hand, it's best to include all the licenses you can, as many times as needed, wherever it is most appropriate. And if that's the case, you should most likely consult an actual lawyer beforehand.
P.S. Just to be safe.
MIT 'Advice' License
THE ABOVE MENTIONED ADVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OF THIS POST SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH HIS ADVICE OR THE INTERPRETATION OF LATIN CHARACTERS, USED TO CONVEY IT.
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