Re: [PATCH 0/2] LICENSES: add and use copyleft-next-0.3.1

From: "Bradley M. Kuhn" <bkuhn@ebb.org>
To: Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>,
	tglx@linutronix.de, akpm@linux-foundation.org, shuah@kernel.org,
	rafael@kernel.org, rgoldwyn@suse.com, kuno@frob.nl,
	fontana@sharpeleven.org, Ciaran.Farrell@suse.com,
	Christopher.DeNicolo@suse.com, hch@lst.de, corbet@lwn.net,
	linux@leemhuis.info, ast@kernel.org, andriin@fb.com,
	daniel@iogearbox.net, atenart@kernel.org, alobakin@pm.me,
	weiwan@google.com, ap420073@gmail.com, tj@kernel.org,
	jeyu@kernel.org, ngupta@vflare.org,
	sergey.senozhatsky.work@gmail.com, minchan@kernel.org,
	axboe@kernel.dk, mbenes@suse.com, jpoimboe@redhat.com,
	keescook@chromium.org, jikos@kernel.org, rostedt@goodmis.org,
	peterz@infradead.org, linux-block@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-spdx@vger.kernel.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	copyleft-next@lists.fedorahosted.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/2] LICENSES: add and use copyleft-next-0.3.1
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2021 10:52:54 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <YOc7dgBq/N5vDjhx@ebb.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <YOcakETswyEN58j6@kroah.com>

Greg KH wrote:
> Let's keep it simple please, and not add new licenses for no real good
> reason if at all possible.

I've stated a number of real good reasons to keep copyleft-next as a
dual-licensing option; they seem to have not been refuted here. Indeed, this
point is quite salient:

Joe Perches wrote:
>>> You can ask but it's the submitter's choice to license their code however
>>> they desire.

… to which I'd add, as long as the license is GPLv2-only-compatible, which of
course (GPLv2-only|copyleft-next) is.

Rest is admittedly a bit OT:

Greg also noted:
> I have stated in public many times to companies that try to add
> dual-licensed new kernel code that they should only do so if they provide a
> really good reason

We can agree to disagree on the differences in how company vs. individual
requests and their "good reasons" are handled/prioritized; I think we'd both
agree it's actually moot anyway.  While it's an important topic, I apologize
for raising that as it was off-topic to the issue at hand.

On that off-topic point, Tim Bird added:
>> It's not at all purely symbolic to dual license (GPLv2-only|2-Clause-BSD).
>> That dual-licensing has allowed the interchange of a lot of code between
>> the BSD Unixes and Linux, that otherwise would not have happened.

This is a good point, but the same argument is of course valid for
copyleft-next-licensed projects.  While there are currently fewer than those
than BSD-ish projects, I don't think Linux should stand on ceremony of “your
project must be this tall to ride this ride” and share code with us … and
then there are the aspirational arguments that I made in my prior email.
--
Bradley M. Kuhn - he/him

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https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/