Re: [PATCH 2/2] erofs-utils: switch other source files into MIT license

"zhaoyifan (H)" <[email protected]> Thu, 2 Apr 2026 14:19:17 +0800
Newsgroups	org.ozlabs.lists.linux-erofs
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Yifan Zhao <[email protected]>

On 2026/4/2 14:09, Gao Xiang wrote:
> Let's switch other source files to MIT license since we're absolutely
> NOT working on secret rocket science, so licenses should not be
> a bottleneck to innovation in the Cloud Native and AI era.
>
> Signed-off-by: Gao Xiang <[email protected]>
> ---
>   COPYING                    | 14 +++++++-------
>   Makefile.am                |  2 +-
>   autogen.sh                 |  2 +-
>   contrib/Makefile.am        |  2 +-
>   contrib/stress.c           |  2 +-
>   dump/Makefile.am           |  2 +-
>   dump/main.c                |  2 +-
>   fsck/Makefile.am           |  2 +-
>   fsck/main.c                |  2 +-
>   fuse/Makefile.am           |  2 +-
>   fuse/macosx.h              |  2 +-
>   fuse/main.c                |  2 +-
>   man/Makefile.am            |  2 +-
>   mkfs/Makefile.am           |  2 +-
>   mkfs/main.c                |  2 +-
>   mount/Makefile.am          |  2 +-
>   mount/main.c               |  2 +-
>   scripts/get-version-number |  2 +-
>   18 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
> index e781cc21ff15..81aee791f173 100644
> --- a/COPYING
> +++ b/COPYING
> @@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ erofs-utils uses two different license patterns:
>    - most liberofs files in `lib` and `include` directories
>      use GPL-2.0+ OR MIT dual license;
>   
> - - all other files use GPL-2.0+ license, unless
> -   explicitly stated otherwise.
> + - all other files use MIT license, unless explicitly stated
> +   otherwise.
>   
>   Relevant licenses can be found in the LICENSES directory.
>   
> -This model is selected to emphasize that
> -files in `lib` and `include` directories are designed to be included in
> -3rd-party applications, while all other files are intended to be used
> -"as is", as part of their intended scenarios, with no intention to
> -support 3rd-party integration use cases.
> +This model is selected to emphasize that erofs-utils can be integrated
> +into various ecosystems as much as possible.
> +
> +However, liberofs should be GPL-2.0+ OR MIT dual license since some
> +parts can be shared with the Linux kernel.
> diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
> index 7cb93a697627..e79222e965a9 100644
> --- a/Makefile.am
> +++ b/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
>   
> diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
> index fd81db4d6fb3..89c510c35cab 100755
> --- a/autogen.sh
> +++ b/autogen.sh
> @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
>   #!/bin/sh
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   aclocal && \
>   autoheader && \
> diff --git a/contrib/Makefile.am b/contrib/Makefile.am
> index 4eb7abed8856..5bedb9441b2e 100644
> --- a/contrib/Makefile.am
> +++ b/contrib/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   # Makefile.am
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS	= foreign
> diff --git a/contrib/stress.c b/contrib/stress.c
> index 0ef8c67c126b..65773bce9e27 100644
> --- a/contrib/stress.c
> +++ b/contrib/stress.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   /*
>    * stress test for EROFS filesystem
>    *
> diff --git a/dump/Makefile.am b/dump/Makefile.am
> index c2e0c745a640..2611fd28c762 100644
> --- a/dump/Makefile.am
> +++ b/dump/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   # Makefile.am
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
> diff --git a/dump/main.c b/dump/main.c
> index 78c50d511587..6c7258a5db40 100644
> --- a/dump/main.c
> +++ b/dump/main.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   /*
>    * Copyright (C) 2021-2022 HUAWEI, Inc.
>    *             http://www.huawei.com/
> diff --git a/fsck/Makefile.am b/fsck/Makefile.am
> index 488b401c8995..8eebadd7d1e5 100644
> --- a/fsck/Makefile.am
> +++ b/fsck/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   # Makefile.am
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
> diff --git a/fsck/main.c b/fsck/main.c
> index 16a354f460a8..21ada195edab 100644
> --- a/fsck/main.c
> +++ b/fsck/main.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   /*
>    * Copyright 2021 Google LLC
>    * Author: Daeho Jeong <[email protected]>
> diff --git a/fuse/Makefile.am b/fuse/Makefile.am
> index 1e8f518bad1d..9fe560849336 100644
> --- a/fuse/Makefile.am
> +++ b/fuse/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
>   noinst_HEADERS = $(top_srcdir)/fuse/macosx.h
> diff --git a/fuse/macosx.h b/fuse/macosx.h
> index 81ac47f551d6..4bb4bb75d5a2 100644
> --- a/fuse/macosx.h
> +++ b/fuse/macosx.h
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ */
> +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
>   #ifdef __APPLE__
>   #undef LIST_HEAD
>   #endif
> diff --git a/fuse/main.c b/fuse/main.c
> index b6347828eacf..40f8684abe43 100644
> --- a/fuse/main.c
> +++ b/fuse/main.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   /*
>    * Created by Li Guifu <[email protected]>
>    * Lowlevel added by Li Yiyan <[email protected]>
> diff --git a/man/Makefile.am b/man/Makefile.am
> index b9b598954725..88bf3a16d995 100644
> --- a/man/Makefile.am
> +++ b/man/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   dist_man_MANS = mkfs.erofs.1 dump.erofs.1 fsck.erofs.1
>   
> diff --git a/mkfs/Makefile.am b/mkfs/Makefile.am
> index aaefc11dadc3..386455aced67 100644
> --- a/mkfs/Makefile.am
> +++ b/mkfs/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
>   bin_PROGRAMS     = mkfs.erofs
> diff --git a/mkfs/main.c b/mkfs/main.c
> index eb13abaec92b..5006f76fa73b 100644
> --- a/mkfs/main.c
> +++ b/mkfs/main.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   /*
>    * Copyright (C) 2018-2019 HUAWEI, Inc.
>    *             http://www.huawei.com/
> diff --git a/mount/Makefile.am b/mount/Makefile.am
> index 7f6efd8b7cf5..637029d4475a 100644
> --- a/mount/Makefile.am
> +++ b/mount/Makefile.am
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   # Makefile.am
>   
>   AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
> diff --git a/mount/main.c b/mount/main.c
> index b6a2deca4d85..e09e58533ecc 100644
> --- a/mount/main.c
> +++ b/mount/main.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   #define _GNU_SOURCE
>   #include <dirent.h>
>   #include <fcntl.h>
> diff --git a/scripts/get-version-number b/scripts/get-version-number
> index d216b7a424e0..484baebf53c6 100755
> --- a/scripts/get-version-number
> +++ b/scripts/get-version-number
> @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
>   #!/bin/sh
> -# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
>   
>   scm_version()
>   {