RE: [PATCH v8 03/12] selftests: add tests_sysfs module

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg KH <[email protected]>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 5, 2021 8:17 AM
> To: Luis Chamberlain <[email protected]>
> Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
> [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; linux-
> [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; linux-
> [email protected]; [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [PATCH v8 03/12] selftests: add tests_sysfs module
> 
> On Mon, Sep 27, 2021 at 09:37:56AM -0700, Luis Chamberlain wrote:
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/lib/test_sysfs.c
> > @@ -0,0 +1,921 @@
> > +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later OR copyleft-next-0.3.1
> > +/*
> > + * sysfs test driver
> > + *
> > + * Copyright (C) 2021 Luis Chamberlain <[email protected]>
> > + *
> > + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
> > + * under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
> > + * Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or at your option any
> > + * later version; or, when distributed separately from the Linux kernel or
> > + * when incorporated into other software packages, subject to the following
> > + * license:

This is a very strange license grant, which I'm not sure is covered by any
current SPDX syntax.
" when distributed separately from the Linux kernel or when incorporated into
other software packages, subject to the following license:"

Why would we care about the license used when the code is used in a non-kernel
project?  If it is desired for the code to be available outside the kernel under a
different license, then surely the easiest thing is to make it available separately
under that license.  I'm not sure why the kernel needs to carry this license for
non-kernel use of the code.

I would recommend giving this a GPLv2 SPDX header, and maybe in the comment
at the top of the file put a reference to a git repository where the code can be
obtained under a different license.

Just my 2 cents.
 -- Tim

> > + *
> > + * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
> > + * under the terms of copyleft-next (version 0.3.1 or later) as published
> > + * at http://copyleft-next.org/.
> 
> Independant of the fact that I don't like sysfs code attempting to be
> accessed in the kernel with licenses other than GPLv2, you do not need
> the license "boilerplate" text at all in files.  That's what the SPDX
> line is for.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h