Hi Alan, @Justin Mclean <[email protected]> thanks for the clarification
I think that we should encourage this order and start a vote regarding updating the documentation to help vendors decide. option 1: preferred way ->create the native NuttX port which can be maintained by community (including vendor representatives with CLA) under the project repo.. This option provides *compatibility, compliance, *and ensures *long term maintenance* from vendor and community option 2: approved way ->vedor signs SGA and move vendor HAL under ASF. This option provides *compliance*, and ensures *long term maintenance* from vendor and community option 3: HAL maintained outside ASF should be mentioned in documentation but treated like every other Open Source component that NuttX imports (Ex: machine learning). it is supported but *we can not guaranty or verify the quality or compliance*. In my option *this approach prioritizes availability and community* without adding extra burden on the project or making promises that we can not keep if the vendor decides to abandon the HAL Best regards Alin On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 2:35 PM Alan C. Assis <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Binh, > > I think option 2 (Vendor-hosted HAL) is an issue for NuttX, because if the > vendor stops contributing, users won't be able to get their PR integrated > into the HAL, this is a situation we realize recently we can face very > easily. > > My suggestion is: HALs that can't be hosted at ASF should be hosted at > github.com/NuttX/HALS/vendor-hal-name (or any other github account under > the control of the NuttX community). > > You forgot option 3: create the native port. In fact, people from Renesas > USA are doing it righ now (RA4 and RA8 were integrated this way). This is > the preferred way. > > BR, > > Alan > > On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 11:28 PM Binh Nguyen <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > I think we may have enough information to start evaluating what a > > reasonable model for supporting vendor HALs in NuttX should look like. > > > > Based on the discussion, I see two possible models: > > > > 1. ASF-hosted HAL: Vendor provides an SGA and completes ASF IP clearance; > > the HAL is maintained under ASF/NuttX while the vendor retains rights to > > its original code. > > > > 2. Vendor-hosted HAL: Vendor retains and maintains the HAL in its own > > repository, with NuttX integrating and supporting it externally. > > > > Could we evaluate whether either or both of these models could work for > > NuttX, so that we can move forward with official vendor HAL support? > > > > > > Thanks, > > Binh > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Justin Mclean <[email protected]> > > Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 6:24 PM > > To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: Proposal: host vendor HAL repositories under > github.com/NuttX > > > > Hi, > > > > A few points in this thread about ASF policy need correcting. > > > > A software grant (SGA) is a licence, not a transfer of ownership. > > Espressif would keep the copyright and could keep using and licensing the > > HAL however it likes. The ASF does not become the sole owner. From > > https://www.apache.org/licenses/: "In all cases, contributors retain > full > > rights to use their original contributions for any other purpose outside > of > > Apache while providing the ASF and its projects the right to distribute > and > > build upon their work within Apache." > > > > Espressif's CCLA is not enough on its own. It covers contributions from > > its listed employees, not an existing code base developed outside the > ASF. > > Bringing esp-hal-3rdparty into an ASF repository needs a software grant > > from Espressif and IP clearance, see > > https://incubator.apache.org/ip-clearance/. The PMC does the paperwork > > and the Incubator approves it by lazy consensus. The PMC also needs to > > check the licences of any third-party code inside the HAL. > > > > github.com/NuttX is not controlled by the ASF, so it is not "under our > > control". Code the project maintains must be housed in ASF repositories, > > see https://infra.apache.org/project-repo-policy.html. That rules out > > NuttX committers maintaining vendor HALs there. > > > > Thanks, > > Justin > > >
