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

Tim.Bird
2021-10-05T17:22:29Z

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 5, 2021 8:17 AM
> To: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
> Cc: tj@kernel.org; akpm@linux-foundation.org; minchan@kernel.org; jeyu@kernel.org; shuah@kernel.org; bvanassche@acm.org;
> dan.j.williams@intel.com; joe@perches.com; tglx@linutronix.de; keescook@chromium.org; rostedt@goodmis.org; linux-
> spdx@vger.kernel.org; linux-doc@vger.kernel.org; linux-block@vger.kernel.org; linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org; linux-
> kselftest@vger.kernel.org; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> 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 <mcgrof@kernel.org>
> > + *
> > + * 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