[PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[matt.hsiao]

From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>

Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on HPE
servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license is needed
for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.

Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
---

Hello contributors in the CC list,

Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly review
the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it. Thanks!

Patch v2:
---------
- Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too

 drivers/misc/hpilo.c | 4 ++--
 drivers/misc/hpilo.h | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/misc/hpilo.c b/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
index 8d00df9243c4..137063857e8d 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR MIT
 /*
  * Driver for the HP iLO management processor.
  *
@@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ MODULE_VERSION("1.5.0");
 MODULE_ALIAS(ILO_NAME);
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION(ILO_NAME);
 MODULE_AUTHOR("David Altobelli <david.altobelli@hpe.com>");
-MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
+MODULE_LICENSE("Dual MIT/GPL");
 
 module_param(max_ccb, uint, 0444);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_ccb, "Maximum number of HP iLO channels to attach (8-24)(default=16)");
diff --git a/drivers/misc/hpilo.h b/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
index d57c34680b09..581dfd7834b8 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
+++ b/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR MIT */
 /*
  * linux/drivers/char/hpilo.h
  *
-- 
2.16.6

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Jiri Slaby]

On 16. 11. 22, 11:34, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> 
> Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on HPE
> servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license is needed
> for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.

Acked-by: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@kernel.org>

> Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> ---
> 
> Hello contributors in the CC list,
> 
> Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly review
> the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it. Thanks!
> 
> Patch v2:
> ---------
> - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> 
>   drivers/misc/hpilo.c | 4 ++--
>   drivers/misc/hpilo.h | 2 +-
>   2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/misc/hpilo.c b/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
> index 8d00df9243c4..137063857e8d 100644
> --- a/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
> +++ b/drivers/misc/hpilo.c
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR MIT
>   /*
>    * Driver for the HP iLO management processor.
>    *
> @@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ MODULE_VERSION("1.5.0");
>   MODULE_ALIAS(ILO_NAME);
>   MODULE_DESCRIPTION(ILO_NAME);
>   MODULE_AUTHOR("David Altobelli <david.altobelli@hpe.com>");
> -MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
> +MODULE_LICENSE("Dual MIT/GPL");
>   
>   module_param(max_ccb, uint, 0444);
>   MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_ccb, "Maximum number of HP iLO channels to attach (8-24)(default=16)");
> diff --git a/drivers/misc/hpilo.h b/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
> index d57c34680b09..581dfd7834b8 100644
> --- a/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
> +++ b/drivers/misc/hpilo.h
> @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
> -/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
> +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR MIT */
>   /*
>    * linux/drivers/char/hpilo.h
>    *

-- 
js
suse labs

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Greg KH]

On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> 
> Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on HPE
> servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license is needed
> for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> ---
> 
> Hello contributors in the CC list,
> 
> Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly review
> the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it. Thanks!
> 
> Patch v2:
> ---------
> - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too

As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Matt Hsiao]

On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > 
> > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on HPE
> > servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license is needed
> > for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > ---
> > 
> > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > 
> > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly review
> > the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it. Thanks!
> > 
> > Patch v2:
> > ---------
> > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> 
> As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h

Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.

RE: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Gaba, Aahit]

On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 09:29:00AM +0530, Aahit Gaba wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > >
> > > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on
> > > HPE servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license
> > > is needed for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > ---
> > >
> > > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > >
> > > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly
> > > review the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it.
> Thanks!
> > >
> > > Patch v2:
> > > ---------
> > > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> >
> > As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> > lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > greg k-h
> 
> Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.

Signed-off-by: Aahit Gaba <aahit.gaba@hpe.com>

The reasons we want to dual license Linux hpilo driver are:
- There are required bug fixes that are not copyrighted by HPE in the current Linux hpilo driver.
- We want to maintain one hpilo driver between Linux and OpenBSD, and dual-licensing of hpilo driver's existing codebase and all the future bug fixes are the requirements for it. Therefore, we requested all other copyright owners of Linux hpilo driver to accept dual-licensing (MIT/GPL-2.0) for their respective contributions.

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Greg KH]

On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 11:38:12AM +0800, Matt Hsiao wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > 
> > > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on HPE
> > > servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license is needed
> > > for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > ---
> > > 
> > > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > > 
> > > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly review
> > > the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it. Thanks!
> > > 
> > > Patch v2:
> > > ---------
> > > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> > 
> > As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> > lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> > 
> > thanks,
> > 
> > greg k-h
> 
> Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.

You are responding to a 4 month old patch, which is long-gone from my
review queue.

greg k-h

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Greg KH]

On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 03:59:04AM +0000, Gaba, Aahit wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 09:29:00AM +0530, Aahit Gaba wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > > > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > >
> > > > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on
> > > > HPE servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license
> > > > is needed for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > > ---
> > > >
> > > > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly
> > > > review the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it.
> > Thanks!
> > > >
> > > > Patch v2:
> > > > ---------
> > > > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> > >
> > > As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> > > lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > >
> > > greg k-h
> > 
> > Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Aahit Gaba <aahit.gaba@hpe.com>
> 
> The reasons we want to dual license Linux hpilo driver are:
> - There are required bug fixes that are not copyrighted by HPE in the current Linux hpilo driver.

And have you identified them and gotten a sign-off from those copyright
holders?  I don't see that here documented at all, so I imagine you
documented it somewhere else?  If so, where?

> - We want to maintain one hpilo driver between Linux and OpenBSD, and dual-licensing of hpilo driver's existing codebase and all the future bug fixes are the requirements for it. Therefore, we requested all other copyright owners of Linux hpilo driver to accept dual-licensing (MIT/GPL-2.0) for their respective contributions.

You can request, you can not require, right?

How are you going to deal with the fact that the driver really can not
be shared between these two operating systems without a lot of rewriting
and changing of the code?

Also, this code uses GPL-only symbols out of the Linux kernel, how are
you going to handle them in openbsd?  Do you have a port of the code to
openbsd somewhere for review that shows how this all is translated?

And this is really a tiny driver, why not just rewrite it from scratch
for openbsd anyway?  Odds are that's going to be required to fit into
the openbsd driver and coding style, right?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Matt Hsiao]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 12:29:53PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 03:59:04AM +0000, Gaba, Aahit wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 09:29:00AM +0530, Aahit Gaba wrote:
> > > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > > > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > > > > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > > >
> > > > > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on
> > > > > HPE servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license
> > > > > is needed for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > > > >
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > > > ---
> > > > >
> > > > > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly
> > > > > review the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it.
> > > Thanks!
> > > > >
> > > > > Patch v2:
> > > > > ---------
> > > > > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> > > >
> > > > As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> > > > lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> > > >
> > > > thanks,
> > > >
> > > > greg k-h
> > > 
> > > Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Aahit Gaba <aahit.gaba@hpe.com>
> > 
> > The reasons we want to dual license Linux hpilo driver are:
> > - There are required bug fixes that are not copyrighted by HPE in the current Linux hpilo driver.
> 
> And have you identified them and gotten a sign-off from those copyright
> holders?  I don't see that here documented at all, so I imagine you
> documented it somewhere else?  If so, where?

We are under the assumption that hpilo contributors would reply to this
thread with their 'Acked-by' or 'Signed-off-by'. Is that the proper
approach?

We have contacted a number of hpilo driver contributors through email
outside of the Linux process. We do have their emails giving permission
to dual-licensing their contribution. We can provide those emails if
they add value beyond the 'Acked-by' or 'Signed-off-by' process.

> 
> > - We want to maintain one hpilo driver between Linux and OpenBSD, and dual-licensing of hpilo driver's existing codebase and all the future bug fixes are the requirements for it. Therefore, we requested all other copyright owners of Linux hpilo driver to accept dual-licensing (MIT/GPL-2.0) for their respective contributions.
> 
> You can request, you can not require, right?
> 
> How are you going to deal with the fact that the driver really can not
> be shared between these two operating systems without a lot of rewriting
> and changing of the code?
> 
> Also, this code uses GPL-only symbols out of the Linux kernel, how are
> you going to handle them in openbsd?  Do you have a port of the code to
> openbsd somewhere for review that shows how this all is translated?
> 
> And this is really a tiny driver, why not just rewrite it from scratch
> for openbsd anyway?  Odds are that's going to be required to fit into
> the openbsd driver and coding style, right?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h

We shouldn't have used the term 'one driver'. More accurate description
is we want the core driver features and any changes or bug fixes apply
to that dual licensed. We understand that the parts of the driver that
are calls to Linux specific functions would be different in OpenBSD.
There are also some Linux infrastructure things that would be different
in OpenBSD. The key for us is that the core driver features and any
future changes be kept in sync between Linux and OpenBSD.

Re: [PATCH v2] misc: hpilo: relicense HPE iLO driver as Dual MIT/GPL

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 04:30:17PM +0800, Matt Hsiao wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 12:29:53PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 03:59:04AM +0000, Gaba, Aahit wrote:
> > > On Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 09:29:00AM +0530, Aahit Gaba wrote:
> > > > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 12:36:40PM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, Nov 16, 2022 at 06:34:57PM +0800, matt.hsiao@hpe.com wrote:
> > > > > > From: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Currently, the hpilo driver is licensed as GPL. To run OpenBSD on
> > > > > > HPE servers with BMC (HPE iLO) functionality, a dual MIT/GPL license
> > > > > > is needed for porting the hpilo driver to OpenBSD.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Signed-off-by: Matt Hsiao <matt.hsiao@hpe.com>
> > > > > > ---
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hello contributors in the CC list,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks for your contributions to the hpilo driver. Please kindly
> > > > > > review the license change and hopefully you would agree and approve it.
> > > > Thanks!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Patch v2:
> > > > > > ---------
> > > > > > - Change MODULE_LICENSE to Dual MIT/GPL too
> > > > >
> > > > > As I asked for on the v1 version (delayed email on my side), I need a
> > > > > lawyer from HPE to sign off on this change as well.
> > > > >
> > > > > thanks,
> > > > >
> > > > > greg k-h
> > > > 
> > > > Add HPE attorney Aahit Gaba to sign off.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Aahit Gaba <aahit.gaba@hpe.com>
> > > 
> > > The reasons we want to dual license Linux hpilo driver are:
> > > - There are required bug fixes that are not copyrighted by HPE in the current Linux hpilo driver.
> > 
> > And have you identified them and gotten a sign-off from those copyright
> > holders?  I don't see that here documented at all, so I imagine you
> > documented it somewhere else?  If so, where?
> 
> We are under the assumption that hpilo contributors would reply to this
> thread with their 'Acked-by' or 'Signed-off-by'. Is that the proper
> approach?

Please work with your legal team to do this properly, they know what to
do here.  If not, then just don't worry about it (i.e. if it costs too
much to do this, just spend the money to write a second driver.)

> We shouldn't have used the term 'one driver'. More accurate description
> is we want the core driver features and any changes or bug fixes apply
> to that dual licensed. We understand that the parts of the driver that
> are calls to Linux specific functions would be different in OpenBSD.
> There are also some Linux infrastructure things that would be different
> in OpenBSD. The key for us is that the core driver features and any
> future changes be kept in sync between Linux and OpenBSD.

Again, you have full control over this as you are making those changes
yourself.  I really don't see why you need to do this.

Write the OpenBSD driver yourself and see if you could actually share
anything.  Odds are, the shared parts you already have copyright over
today, so there's no issues involved.

good luck!

greg k-h