[Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] compiler: Swap 'public domain' header for license

[Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] compiler: Swap 'public domain' header for license

[Felipe Franciosi]

As discussed on the list [1], having a comment stating that this file
is "public domain" is arguably wrong and not legally binding. This patch
replaces that comment with a clear GPLv2+ license, as proposed in [2].

[1] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06151.html
[2] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06217.html

Signed-off-by: Felipe Franciosi <felipe@nutanix.com>
---
v2: Add a GPLv2+ statement after removing 'public domain' text.
    Amend the commit message and text to reflect it.

 include/qemu/compiler.h | 6 +++++-
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/include/qemu/compiler.h b/include/qemu/compiler.h
index 338d3a6..157698b 100644
--- a/include/qemu/compiler.h
+++ b/include/qemu/compiler.h
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-/* public domain */
+/* compiler.h: macros to abstract away compiler specifics
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+ * See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
 
 #ifndef COMPILER_H
 #define COMPILER_H
-- 
1.9.5

Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] compiler: Swap 'public domain' header for license

[Peter Maydell]

On 23 September 2016 at 15:18, Felipe Franciosi <felipe@nutanix.com> wrote:
> As discussed on the list [1], having a comment stating that this file
> is "public domain" is arguably wrong and not legally binding. This patch
> replaces that comment with a clear GPLv2+ license, as proposed in [2].
>
> [1] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06151.html
> [2] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06217.html
>
> Signed-off-by: Felipe Franciosi <felipe@nutanix.com>
> ---
> v2: Add a GPLv2+ statement after removing 'public domain' text.
>     Amend the commit message and text to reflect it.
>
>  include/qemu/compiler.h | 6 +++++-
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/include/qemu/compiler.h b/include/qemu/compiler.h
> index 338d3a6..157698b 100644
> --- a/include/qemu/compiler.h
> +++ b/include/qemu/compiler.h
> @@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
> -/* public domain */
> +/* compiler.h: macros to abstract away compiler specifics
> + *
> + * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
> + * See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
> + */
>
>  #ifndef COMPILER_H
>  #define COMPILER_H

Reviewed-by: Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>

thanks
-- PMM

Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] compiler: Swap 'public domain' header for license

[Eric Blake]

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On 09/23/2016 09:18 AM, Felipe Franciosi wrote:
> As discussed on the list [1], having a comment stating that this file
> is "public domain" is arguably wrong and not legally binding. This patch
> replaces that comment with a clear GPLv2+ license, as proposed in [2].
> 
> [1] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06151.html
> [2] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06217.html
> 
> Signed-off-by: Felipe Franciosi <felipe@nutanix.com>
> ---
> v2: Add a GPLv2+ statement after removing 'public domain' text.
>     Amend the commit message and text to reflect it.
> 
>  include/qemu/compiler.h | 6 +++++-
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

I personally think that calling out [L]GPL without also asserting
copyright is awkward (the GPL works BECAUSE of copyright, so if you
don't know who is asserting the copyright, it's hard to say how you got
the copyleft permissions).  But it's not a show-stopper for me to
approve this patch, because qemu.git can be used to track contributors
regardless of what the current file contents say about any copyright
claims, and the overall project has plenty of documentation on copyright
holders.

I also think the commit message would be a LOT stronger if you
explicitly call out commit 5c026320 as the point where the file was
split off of the larger qemu-common.h, which was indeed GPLv2+ at the
time of the split (in addition to pointing to the list traffic
discussing the issue).

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org


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Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] compiler: Swap 'public domain' header for license

[Felipe Franciosi]

> On 23 Sep 2016, at 15:29, Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> On 09/23/2016 09:18 AM, Felipe Franciosi wrote:
>> As discussed on the list [1], having a comment stating that this file
>> is "public domain" is arguably wrong and not legally binding. This patch
>> replaces that comment with a clear GPLv2+ license, as proposed in [2].
>> 
>> [1] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06151.html
>> [2] http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-09/msg06217.html
>> 
>> Signed-off-by: Felipe Franciosi <felipe@nutanix.com>
>> ---
>> v2: Add a GPLv2+ statement after removing 'public domain' text.
>>    Amend the commit message and text to reflect it.
>> 
>> include/qemu/compiler.h | 6 +++++-
>> 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> I personally think that calling out [L]GPL without also asserting
> copyright is awkward (the GPL works BECAUSE of copyright, so if you
> don't know who is asserting the copyright, it's hard to say how you got
> the copyleft permissions).  But it's not a show-stopper for me to
> approve this patch, because qemu.git can be used to track contributors
> regardless of what the current file contents say about any copyright
> claims, and the overall project has plenty of documentation on copyright
> holders.
> 
> I also think the commit message would be a LOT stronger if you
> explicitly call out commit 5c026320 as the point where the file was
> split off of the larger qemu-common.h, which was indeed GPLv2+ at the
> time of the split (in addition to pointing to the list traffic
> discussing the issue).

Makes sense! Done.

As soon as this is confirmed to go in, I'll go back to addressing the series which adds the ignore_value() macro and uses it to fix the build with -Werror=unused-result.

Thanks,
Felipe

> 
> -- 
> Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
> Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
>