Re: [PATCH] power: reset: qnap-poweroff: Fix License String

Re: [PATCH] power: reset: qnap-poweroff: Fix License String

[Anton Vorontsov]

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 09:13:36PM +0100, Uwe Kleine-König wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 07:15:26PM +0100, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> > GPLv2+ is not a valid license string. Replace it with one that is.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
> > ---
> >  drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c |    2 +-
> >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c b/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > index ca0b476..8af772b 100644
> > --- a/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > +++ b/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > @@ -121,4 +121,4 @@ module_platform_driver(qnap_power_off_driver);
> >  
> >  MODULE_AUTHOR("Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>");
> >  MODULE_DESCRIPTION("QNAP Power off driver");
> > -MODULE_LICENSE("GPLv2+");
> > +MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
> This change is wrong.
> 
> According to include/linux/module.h "GPL v2" means exactly that: version
> 2. As the file specifies v2 or later in the header you have to use "GPL"
> which means v2 or later.

Does it even make sense to have the two separate things ("GPL v2" and
"GPL")?

Suppose there is a global change that modifies a bunch of drivers, some of
them are GPLv2+. Now, the author of the global change is submitting it
under "GPL v2 only" license, which, by definition, turns any GPLv2+ code
into "GPL v2 only", right?

So, changing from GPLv2+ to "GPL v2 only" is OK, but not the other way
around.

IANAL, tho.

Anton

p.s. Yes, in this particular driver it also makes sense to remove "or
later" words from the header, just to be consistent.

Re: [PATCH] power: reset: qnap-poweroff: Fix License String

[Uwe Kleine-König]

Hello Anton,

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:47:29PM -0800, Anton Vorontsov wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 09:13:36PM +0100, Uwe Kleine-König wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 07:15:26PM +0100, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> > > GPLv2+ is not a valid license string. Replace it with one that is.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
> > > ---
> > >  drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c |    2 +-
> > >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c b/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > > index ca0b476..8af772b 100644
> > > --- a/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > > +++ b/drivers/power/reset/qnap-poweroff.c
> > > @@ -121,4 +121,4 @@ module_platform_driver(qnap_power_off_driver);
> > >  
> > >  MODULE_AUTHOR("Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>");
> > >  MODULE_DESCRIPTION("QNAP Power off driver");
> > > -MODULE_LICENSE("GPLv2+");
> > > +MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
> > This change is wrong.
> > 
> > According to include/linux/module.h "GPL v2" means exactly that: version
> > 2. As the file specifies v2 or later in the header you have to use "GPL"
> > which means v2 or later.
> 
> Does it even make sense to have the two separate things ("GPL v2" and
> "GPL")?
Yeah. If you had another OS project that uses GPL-4 you can just copy
over a GPL-2+ driver to it, not an GPL-2 driver. So assuming the kernel
will stay at GPL-2 forever it doesn't make any difference for the
kernel. But other projects might benefit. (And if in the future someone
might want to change the kernel to GPL-4, she only needs to contact the
GPL-2 authors and can legally change GPL-2+ to GPL-4+.)

> Suppose there is a global change that modifies a bunch of drivers, some of
> them are GPLv2+. Now, the author of the global change is submitting it
> under "GPL v2 only" license, which, by definition, turns any GPLv2+ code
> into "GPL v2 only", right?
See http://yarchive.net/comp/linux/dual_license_bsd_gpl.html for Linus'
POV. It's an old mail, but I think it still applies.

> So, changing from GPLv2+ to "GPL v2 only" is OK, but not the other way
> around.
OK as in (probably) legal. OK as in fair is questionable.

> IANAL, tho.
ditto.

Best regards
Uwe

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