Re: [Batch 16 patch 16/25] treewide: Replace GPLv2 boilerplate/reference with SPDX - rule 241

[dmg <dmg@turingmachine.org>]

Hi Greg,

I would like to emphasize that the file COPYING has evolved
significantly since this file was added. It used to be GPL-2.0 only.

at commit 3a978e558a32b51d03809f7d72b6c68d1a46d953, the contents of
the file are included below.

yes, this file has GPLv2.0-only, but other files that reference
copying (more recently) would be GPL-2.0-only with  Linux-syscall-note

but it might be useful to verify the contents of COPYING at the time
the license is added. Although, one can argue that the
authors of the file have given tacit agreement that the contents of
the COPYING file will be the license of the file, even if the COPYING
file evolves.

NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel
 services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use
 of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work".

 Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software
Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux
 kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.
[...]

 Also note that the only valid version of the GPL as far as the kernel
 is concerned is _this_ particular version of the license (ie v2, not
 v2.2 or v3.x or whatever), unless explicitly otherwise stated.

[...]
----------------------------------------


                    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

                       Version 2, June 1991

[...]


On Mon, Jun 3, 2019 at 11:05 AM Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jun 03, 2019 at 03:44:59PM +0000, Zavras, Alexios wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: linux-spdx-owner@vger.kernel.org <linux-spdx-owner@vger.kernel.org>
> > > On Behalf Of Thomas Gleixner
> > > Sent: Monday, 3 June, 2019 07:45
> > > To: linux-spdx@vger.kernel.org
> > > Subject: [Batch 16 patch 16/25] treewide: Replace GPLv2
> > > boilerplate/reference with SPDX - rule 241
> > >
> > > From: Thomas Gleixner tglx@linutronix.de
> > >
> > > Based on 1 normalized pattern(s):
> > >
> > >   this file is subject to the terms and conditions of the gnu general
> > >   public license see the file copying in the main directory of the
> > >   linux distribution for more details
> > >
> > > extracted by the scancode license scanner the SPDX license identifier
> > >
> > >   GPL-2.0-only
> > >
> > > has been chosen to replace the boilerplate/reference in 12 file(s).
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
> > >
> > > ---
> > > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tglx/linux-
> > > spdx.git/commit/?h=batch16&id=10c7a426e575
> > > ---
> > >  arch/m68k/tools/amiga/dmesg.c         |    7 +------
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/apne.c      |    6 +-----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/hydra.c     |    4 +---
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/mcf8390.c   |    5 +----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/8390/zorro8390.c |    5 +----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/amd/a2065.c      |    5 +----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/amd/a2065.h      |    5 +----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/amd/ariadne.c    |    5 +----
> > >  drivers/net/ethernet/amd/ariadne.h    |    5 +----
> > >  kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c                |    5 +----
> > >  kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c                |    5 +----
> > >  scripts/pnmtologo.c                   |    5 +----
> > >  12 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 50 deletions(-)
> > >
> > > --- a/arch/m68k/tools/amiga/dmesg.c
> > > +++ b/arch/m68k/tools/amiga/dmesg.c
> > > @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
> > > +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
> > >  /*
> > >   *  linux/arch/m68k/tools/amiga/dmesg.c -- Retrieve the kernel messages
> > > stored
> > >   *                                    in Chip RAM with the kernel command
> > > @@ -5,16 +6,10 @@
> > >   *
> > >   *  © Copyright 1996 by Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>
> > >   *
> > > - *
> > >   *  Usage:
> > >   *
> > >   * dmesg
> > >   * dmesg <CHIPMEM_END>
> > > - *
> > > - *
> > > - *  This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General
> > > Public
> > > - *  License.  See the file COPYING in the main directory of the Linux
> > > - *  distribution for more details.
> > >   */
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Once again, no license version and "see COPYING for details"
>
> COPYING was "GPLv2".
>
> thanks,
>
> greg k-h



-- 
--dmg

---
D M German
http://turingmachine.org