Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 0/2] testing: Build WHPX enabled binaries

["Philippe Mathieu-Daudé" <philmd@redhat.com>]

On 9/19/19 1:41 PM, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 01:18:57PM +0200, Stefan Weil wrote:
>> Am 19.09.2019 um 12:59 schrieb Philippe Mathieu-Daudé:
>>> Add a job to cross-build QEMU with WHPX enabled.
>>>
>>> Use the Win10SDK headers from the Android Project, as commented
>>> in https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2019-09/msg03842.html
>>>
>>> Based-on: <20190918121101.30690-1-philmd@redhat.com>
>>> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2019-09/msg03844.html
>>>
>>> Philippe Mathieu-Daudé (2):
>>>   tests/docker: Add fedora-win10sdk-cross image
>>>   .shippable.yml: Build WHPX enabled binaries
>>>
>>>  .shippable.yml                                |  2 ++
>>>  tests/docker/Makefile.include                 |  1 +
>>>  .../dockerfiles/fedora-win10sdk-cross.docker  | 21 +++++++++++++++++++
>>>  3 files changed, 24 insertions(+)
>>>  create mode 100644 tests/docker/dockerfiles/fedora-win10sdk-cross.docker
>>>
>>
>> Please note that the required header files are part of the Win10SDK
>> which is not published under a free license, so I am afraid that they
>> cannot be used with QEMU code to produce free binaries.
> 
> Can you elaborate on why you think that is the case ?
> 
> Looking at the 3 header files used, all they contain are struct
> definitions and integer constants, fortunately no functional
> code in macros or inline functions. As such, it is questionable
> whether the headers alone can be considered copyrightable material.
> Any compatible implementation that follows the WHPX API/ABI will by
> neccessity be the same, modulo code style.
> 
> Further, from a GPL POV, these headers should fall under the system
> libraries exception, as WHPX is core low level operating system
> functionality.
> 
> There's a valid legal question as to how to we got access to the
> files in the first place. Assuming they are freely distributable
> though, given their hosting on Google Android downloads.
> 
> So the fact that the headers are not under an open source / free
> license doesn't look like it should impact the ability to distribute
> the resulting QEMU binaries.

Are we distributing the resulting binaries?
I don't think so, we only build until linking in a scratch container and
discard its content, we don't have access to the container storage via
Shippable (also Travis). We only use the exit code and the console
output from the build.

We are not distributing those headers neither, as we currently do not
distribute the docker images.

Regards,

Phil.