Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2 0/4] relicense QEMU softfloat from 2b to to 2a

[Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>]

Ping for review of this v2 (for code, if you like, but primarily
for methodology and sanity of the relicensing; we can always fix
code bugs later).

We really need to get this sorted out for the next release.
I am very strongly tempted to say that I'm just going to stop
processing pull requests until we can get this series reviewed
and into master...

-- PMM

On 12 January 2015 at 14:38, Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org> wrote:
> Hi; as you may be aware, we discovered some time back that
> the license of SoftFloat-2b is claimed to be GPLv2 incompatible by
> the FSF due to an indemnification clause.  The previous release,
> SoftFloat-2a, did not contain this clause. We're therefore switching
> to the -2a release and relicensing (or reverting and reimplementing)
> all subsequent commits by QEMU contributors.
>
> Last time around we were able to collect acks for the relicensing
> from almost all contributors, so thanks to all of you. This patchset
> aims to complete the process by applying the relicensing patch and
> providing reimplemented code for the handful of commits that had to
> be reverted.
>
> The patch switching from upstream's SoftFloat-2b to -2a is
> constructed in the same way Anthony Liguori used in 2013:
>  * diff commit 158142c2 against SoftFloat-2b to separate out the
>    changes made by Fabrice as part of the import
>  * copy over the SoftFloat-2a versions of the files instead
>  * apply some mechanical transformations (line endings, block comment style)
>  * re-apply Fabrice's patches
>  * diff this endpoint against 158142c2 to give a 2b-to-2a relicensing patch
>  * apply that to current master
>
> Following this change are a set of patches which revert and reimplement
> the only four commits in the tree which are still relevant and for which
> we could not get acks for relicensing.
>
> Finally there's a patch which adds comments to the top of each
> affected file clarifying the new licensing status (where the files
> contain portions under variously SoftFloat-2a, BSD and GPLv2+
> licenses) and specifying the default license for new contributions (so
> we don't have to keep asking patch submitters to specify it). I've
> applied the Acked-by tags from the 2013 round to this patch as it
> seemed the most appropriate place. (Those acks should thus be taken to
> indicate approval for the relicensing rather than necessarily
> specifically for the wording choice.)
>
> I have updated the tarball at:
>  http://people.linaro.org/~peter.maydell/softfloat-relicensing-proposed.tar.gz
> which describes in detail how the patchset was produced, including
> copies of upstream's pristine 2a and 2b tarballs, the commands for
> regenerating the "relicense" patch, and copies of the ack-emails.
> It also has the 'revert' and 'reimplement' patches as separate non-squashed
> patches.
>
> Changes v1->v2:
>  * fixed the bad values of NaN constants in the reimplemented code
>  * squashed the 'revert' and 'reimplement' patches together to avoid
>    bisection breaks
>  * use SF2a for new contributions, not GPLv2+ (as discussed in review)
>
> Peter Maydell (4):
>   softfloat: Apply patch corresponding to rebasing to softfloat-2a
>   softfloat: Revert and reimplement remaining portions of 75d62a5856 and
>     3430b0be36f
>   softfloat: Revert and reimplement remaining parts of b645bb4885 and
>     5a6932d51d
>   softfloat: Clarify license status
>
>  fpu/softfloat-macros.h     |  86 ++++++++++++++++-----
>  fpu/softfloat-specialize.h | 135 +++++++++++++++++++++-----------
>  fpu/softfloat.c            | 186 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
>  include/fpu/softfloat.h    |  84 +++++++++++++++-----
>  4 files changed, 349 insertions(+), 142 deletions(-)
>
> --
> 1.9.1