On Mon, 27 Nov 2017 13:16:03 +0530 Hemant Agrawal <hemant.agra...@nxp.com> wrote:
> The DPDK uses the Open Source BSD-3-Clause license for the core libraries > and drivers. The kernel components are naturally GPLv2 licensed. > > Many of the files in the DPDK source code contain the full text of the > applicable license. For example, most of the BSD-3-Clause files contain a > full copy of the BSD-3-Clause license text. > > Including big blocks of License headers in all files blows up the source > code with mostly redundant information. An additional problem is that even > the same licenses are referred to by a number of slightly varying text > blocks (full, abbreviated, different indentation, line wrapping and/or > white space, with obsolete address information, ...) which makes validation > and automatic processing a nightmare. > > To make this easier, DPDK is adpoting the use of a single line reference to > Unique License Identifiers in source files as defined by the Linux > Foundation's SPDX project [1]. > > Adding license information in this fashion, rather than adding full license > text, can be more efficient for developers; decreases errors; and improves > automated detection of licenses. The current set of valid, predefined SPDX > identifiers is set forth on the SPDX License List[2] > at https://spdx.org/licenses/. > > For example, to label a file as subject to the BSD-3-Clause license, > the following text would be used: > > Copyright (C) [YEAR] NAME-OF-COPYRIGHT-HOLDER > SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause > > To label a file as GPL-2.0 (e.g., for code that runs in the kernel), the > following text would be used: > > Copyright (C) [YEAR] NAME-OF-COPYRIGHT-HOLDER > SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 > > To label a file as dual-licensed with BSD-3-Clause and GPL-2.0 (e.g., for > code that is shared between the kernel and userspace), the following text > would be used: > > Copyright (C) [YEAR] NAME-OF-COPYRIGHT-HOLDER > SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause OR GPL-2.0 > > To label a file as dual-licensed with BSD-3-Clause and LGPL-2.1 (e.g., for > code that is shared between the kernel and userspace), the following text > would be used: > > Copyright (C) [YEAR] NAME-OF-COPYRIGHT-HOLDER > SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause OR LGPL-2.1 > > Note: Any new file contributions in DPDK shall adhere to the above scheme. > It is also being recommended to replace the existing license text in the > code with SPDX-License-Identifiers. > > Note 2: DPDK currently adhere to it's IP policies[3]. Any exception to this > shall be approved by DPDK tech board and DPDK Governing Board. Steps for > any exception approval: > 1. Mention the appropriate license identifier form SPDX. If the license is > not listed in SPDX Licenses. It is the submitters responsibiliity to get > it fist listed. ^first > 2. Get the required approval from the DPDK Technical Board. Technical board > may advise the author to check alternate means first. If no other > alternatives are found and the merit of the contributions are important > for DPDK's mission, it may decide on such exception with two-thirds vote > of the members. > 3. Technical board then approach Governing board for such limited approval > for the given contribution only. > > Any approvals shall be documented in "Licenses/exceptions.txt" with record > dates. > > Note 3: Projects like U-boot have been been using SPDX License Idenfiers > successfully [2]. They have been referered in implementing SPDX based > guidelines in DPDK. > > Note 4: From the legal point of view, this patch is supposed to be only a > change to the textual representation of the license information, but in no > way any change to the actual license terms. With this patch applied, all > files will still be licensed under the same terms they were before. > > Signed-off-by: Hemant Agrawal <hemant.agra...@nxp.com> I like this, it adds clarity. What the kernel did was run a license scan and add SPDX tags to any file without an existing matching license text. I just did the same thing to iproute2. Also, the copyright holder is free to replace existing verbose text with SPDX tag instead, if they so desire. Acked-by: Stephen Hemminger <step...@networkplumber.org>
