Re: [PATCH] [v2] Documentation: clarify driver licensing rules

Jonathan Corbet <[email protected]>
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.linux-spdx,org.kernel.vger.linux-doc,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel
Organization LWN.net
Message-ID <[email protected]>
On Fri, 14 Aug 2020 07:56:25 -0700
Dave Hansen <[email protected]> wrote:

> Greg has challenged some recent driver submitters on their license
> choices. He was correct to do so, as the choices in these instances
> did not always advance the aims of the submitters.
> 
> But, this left submitters (and the folks who help them pick licenses)
> a bit confused. They have read things like
> Documentation/process/license-rules.rst which says:
> 
> 	individual source files can have a different license
> 	which is required to be compatible with the GPL-2.0
> 
> and Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst:
> 
> 	We don't insist on any kind of exclusive GPL licensing,
> 	and if you wish ... you may well wish to release under
> 	multiple licenses.
> 
> As written, these appear a _bit_ more laissez faire than we've been in
> practice lately. It sounds like we at least expect submitters to make
> a well-reasoned license choice and to explain their rationale. It does
> not appear that we blindly accept anything that is simply
> GPLv2-compatible.
> 
> Drivers appear to be the most acute source of misunderstanding, so fix
> the driver documentation first. Update it to clarify expectations.

Applied, thanks.

jon
lmpx.com only provides a reader for public news (NNTP) servers. It is not affiliated with the servers or forums shown here and is not responsible for the content of articles, which is written by their respective authors.