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

Greg KH
2018-11-29T12:13:15Z

On Thu, Nov 29, 2018 at 01:11:10PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> 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.

I take it back, the changelog for the patch explains what is happening
here, the people involved were paying attention.

greg k-h