Re: [PATCH] scsi: libsas: Add missing license and update to SPDX license identifier

[Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Thu, Nov 29, 2018 at 11:52:39AM +0000, John Garry wrote:
> On 27/11/2018 15:23, John Garry wrote:
> > On 27/11/2018 14:43, Greg KH wrote:
> > 
> > Hi Greg,
> > 
> > > On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 10:15:32PM +0800, John Garry wrote:
> > > > Currently sas_task.c has no license specifier, so add SPDX license
> > > > identifier for GPL-2.0+.
> > > > 
> > > > As mentioned in commit b24413180f56 ("License cleanup: add SPDX GPL-2.0
> > > > license identifier to files with no license"), files with no license in
> > > > the kernel are under default kernel license.
> > > 
> > > The default is GPLv2, not v2+.
> > 
> > So sas_task.c should be v2.
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> I also note that currently we have an inconsistency in license of
> sas_init.c:
> 
> /*
>  * Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Transport Layer initialization
>  *
>  * Copyright (C) 2005 Adaptec, Inc.  All rights reserved.
>  * Copyright (C) 2005 Luben Tuikov <luben_tuikov@adaptec.com>
>  *
>  * This file is licensed under GPLv2.
>  *
>  * 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.
>  *
>  * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
>  * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
>  * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
>  * General Public License for more details.
>  *
>  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
>  * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
>  * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
>  * USA
>  *
>  */
> 
> ...
> 
> MODULE_AUTHOR("Luben Tuikov <luben_tuikov@adaptec.com>");
> MODULE_DESCRIPTION("SAS Transport Layer");
> MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
> 
> So the license specifies v2+ but module license states v2.
> 
> I could not find a docment for guidance on this. I also note that making
> sas_task.c v2 would mean mixing v2 and v2+ into the module.

This is not the only file in the kernel with this problem.

For now, we have been trusting the "written text" lines over the
MODULE_LICENSE() lines, as that seems to be the proper way forward.

> I did find an example of someone changing the license:
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-designware-slave.c?h=v4.20-rc4&id=15c566fcff9cc7b8fd64461d6ee6fd1bc665b444
> 

Yup, not good, that should be fixed.

> Then someone changes the module license (but same company):
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/sound/soc/sh/rcar/core.c?h=v4.20-rc4&id=1e0edd4deadbbacd3b35179c233efa26624ab2af

That should be fine, the text says the correct one.

> At this point I'm reluctant to touch this in case I mess up, but there is
> still the missing license in sas_task.c .

Don't touch things like this unless you know _EXACTLY_ what you are
doing...

good luck!

greg k-h