From: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
To: corbet@lwn.net, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org
Cc: sashal@kernel.org, josh@joshtriplett.org, kees@kernel.org,
konstantin@linuxfoundation.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
rostedt@goodmis.org
Subject: [PATCH 4/4] agents: add legal requirements and agent attribution guidelines
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2025 15:58:02 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250727195802.2222764-5-sashal@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250727195802.2222764-1-sashal@kernel.org>
And below is the first test of this scheme:
Co-developed-by: Claude claude-opus-4-20250514
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
Documentation/agents/index.rst | 3 ++-
Documentation/agents/legal.rst | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Documentation/agents/main.rst | 5 ++++
3 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/legal.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/agents/index.rst b/Documentation/agents/index.rst
index 354af3f025e5..982602db3349 100644
--- a/Documentation/agents/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/agents/index.rst
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ Agents
main
core
- coding-style
\ No newline at end of file
+ coding-style
+ legal
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Documentation/agents/legal.rst b/Documentation/agents/legal.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..67e6b2cdff9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/agents/legal.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===============================
+Legal Requirements for Agents
+===============================
+
+This document outlines critical legal requirements that coding agents must follow when working with the Linux kernel codebase.
+
+Licensing Requirements
+----------------------
+
+**GPL-2.0 License**
+ The Linux kernel is licensed under GPL-2.0 only with a syscall exception. Coding agents MUST follow this licensing rule with no exceptions. Any code contributed must be compatible with this license.
+
+**SPDX License Identifiers**
+ All files must have proper SPDX license identifiers. For most kernel source files, this should be the first line of the file in the appropriate comment format:
+
+ - For C source/header files: ``// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``
+ - For scripts: ``# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``
+ - For documentation: ``.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``
+
+Signed-off-by Restriction
+-------------------------
+
+Coding assistants **MUST NOT** add a ``Signed-off-by`` tag pointing to themselves. The ``Signed-off-by`` tag represents a legal certification by a human developer that they have the right to submit the code under the open source license.
+
+Only the human user running the coding assistant should add their ``Signed-off-by`` tag to commits. The agent's contribution is acknowledged through the ``Co-developed-by`` tag as described below.
+
+Agent Attribution Requirement
+-----------------------------
+
+When creating commits, coding agents **MUST** identify themselves by including the following tag in the commit message::
+
+ Co-developed-by: $AGENT_NAME $AGENT_MODEL $AGENT_VERSION
+
+Examples:
+
+- ``Co-developed-by: Claude claude-3-opus-20240229``
+- ``Co-developed-by: GitHub-Copilot GPT-4 v1.0.0``
+- ``Co-developed-by: Cursor gpt-4-turbo-2024-04-09``
+
+This transparency helps maintainers and reviewers understand that a coding agent was involved in the development process.
diff --git a/Documentation/agents/main.rst b/Documentation/agents/main.rst
index 8e0463794b76..9ef75978a2e6 100644
--- a/Documentation/agents/main.rst
+++ b/Documentation/agents/main.rst
@@ -15,3 +15,8 @@ Coding Style
------------
For coding style guidelines and rules, see :doc:`coding-style`
+
+Legal Requirements
+------------------
+
+For licensing, attribution, and legal requirements, see :doc:`legal`
--
2.39.5
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-07-27 19:58 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 102+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-07-27 19:57 [PATCH 0/4] Add agent coding assistant configuration to Linux kernel Sasha Levin
2025-07-27 19:57 ` [PATCH 1/4] agents: add unified agent coding assistant configuration Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 2:37 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 4:43 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 5:16 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 5:39 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 22:06 ` Kevin Hilman
2025-07-30 23:47 ` Sasha Levin
2025-08-01 20:53 ` Rob Herring
2025-08-08 18:07 ` Kevin Hilman
2025-07-27 19:58 ` [PATCH 2/4] agents: add core development references Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 2:39 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 5:00 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 5:10 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 5:59 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 6:18 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 12:35 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 16:25 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 17:35 ` Al Viro
2025-07-30 18:29 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 18:18 ` Matthew Wilcox
2025-07-30 18:41 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 4:24 ` Greg KH
2025-07-28 4:52 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 5:02 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-27 19:58 ` [PATCH 3/4] agents: add coding style documentation and rules Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 2:40 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 5:10 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 5:21 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-28 6:03 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 9:31 ` Krzysztof Kozlowski
2025-07-30 14:48 ` Jakub Kicinski
2025-07-30 15:10 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-27 19:58 ` Sasha Levin [this message]
2025-07-28 2:43 ` [PATCH 4/4] agents: add legal requirements and agent attribution guidelines Kees Cook
2025-08-05 22:08 ` Jeff Johnson
2025-08-05 23:11 ` Laurent Pinchart
2025-08-05 23:33 ` Sasha Levin
2025-08-06 14:12 ` Konstantin Ryabitsev
2025-08-06 21:53 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 7:58 ` [PATCH 0/4] Add agent coding assistant configuration to Linux kernel Vlastimil Babka
2025-07-28 9:27 ` David Hildenbrand
2025-07-28 10:37 ` Greg KH
2025-07-28 10:47 ` David Hildenbrand
2025-07-28 13:05 ` Sasha Levin
2025-08-04 9:23 ` Michal Hocko
2025-08-04 9:41 ` Michal Hocko
2025-08-04 13:25 ` Sasha Levin
2025-08-04 22:03 ` Jiri Kosina
2025-08-04 22:14 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-08-04 22:30 ` Jiri Kosina
2025-08-04 22:53 ` dan.j.williams
2025-08-04 23:30 ` Sasha Levin
2025-08-04 23:39 ` Laurent Pinchart
2025-08-05 13:29 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-28 11:57 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 8:42 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-28 10:35 ` Greg KH
2025-07-28 10:52 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-28 12:45 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 13:13 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-28 13:23 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-28 13:28 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 15:27 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 15:34 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 16:18 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 16:33 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-07-30 16:36 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 16:59 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 17:12 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 17:23 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 17:32 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 18:03 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 18:18 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 18:04 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 19:16 ` Mark Brown
2025-07-30 17:25 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 17:34 ` Mark Brown
2025-07-30 17:36 ` Kees Cook
2025-08-04 10:20 ` Jiri Kosina
2025-07-30 17:05 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 17:46 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 17:59 ` Al Viro
2025-07-30 18:10 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 18:24 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 18:59 ` Sasha Levin
2025-07-30 19:10 ` Theodore Ts'o
2025-07-30 19:40 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 19:51 ` Al Viro
2025-07-31 3:17 ` Hillf Danton
2025-07-30 19:27 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-31 0:02 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-07-30 16:40 ` Dr. David Alan Gilbert
2025-07-30 17:10 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 17:20 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 17:33 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-30 17:12 ` Steven Rostedt
2025-07-30 17:39 ` Dr. David Alan Gilbert
2025-07-30 17:51 ` Kees Cook
2025-07-30 16:58 ` Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-07-28 10:56 ` Laurent Pinchart
2025-08-12 18:13 ` Nicolas Frattaroli
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