Licenses: introduce SPDX Unique Lincense Identifiers

Like many other projects, U-Boot has a tradition of including big
blocks of License headers in all files.  This not only blows up the
source code with mostly redundant information, but also makes it very
difficult to generate License Clearing Reports.  An additional problem
is that even the same lincenses are referred to by a number of
slightly varying text blocks (full, abbreviated, different
indentation, line wrapping and/or white space, with obsolete address
information, ...) which makes automatic processing a nightmare.

To make this easier, such license headers in the source files will be
replaced with a single line reference to Unique Lincense Identifiers
as defined by the Linux Foundation's SPDX project [1].  For example,
in a source file the full "GPL v2.0 or later" header text will be
replaced by a single line:

        SPDX-License-Identifier:        GPL-2.0+

We use the SPDX Unique Lincense Identifiers here; these are available
at [2].

Note: From the legal point of view, this patch is supposed to be only
a change to the textual representation of the license information,
but in no way any change to the actual license terms. With this patch
applied, all files will still be licensed under the same terms they
were before.

Note 2: The apparent difference between the old "COPYING" and the new
"Licenses/gpl-2.0.txt" only results from switching to the upstream
version of the license which is differently formatted; there are not
any actual changes to the content.

Note 3: There are some recurring questions about linense issues, such
as:
    - Is a "All Rights Reserved" clause a problem in GPL code?
    - Are files without any license header a problem?
    - Do we need license headers at all?

The following excerpt from an e-mail by Daniel B. Ravicher should help
with these:

| Message-ID: <4ADF8CAA.5030808@softwarefreedom.org>
| Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:35:22 -0400
| From: "Daniel B. Ravicher" <ravicher@softwarefreedom.org>
| To: Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>
| Subject: Re: GPL and license cleanup questions
|
| Mr. Denk,
|
| Wolfgang Denk wrote:
| > - There are a number of files which do not include any specific
| > license information at all. Is it correct to assume that these files
| > are automatically covered by the "GPL v2 or later" clause as
| > specified by the COPYING file in the top level directory of the
| > U-Boot source tree?
|
| That is a very fact specific analysis and could be different across the
| various files.  However, if the contributor could reasonably be expected
| to have known that the project was licensed GPLv2 or later at the time
| she made her contribution, then a reasonably implication is that she
| consented to her contributions being distributed under those terms.
|
| > - Do such files need any clean up, for example should we add GPL
| > headers to them, or is this not needed?
|
| If the project as a whole is licensed under clear terms, you need not
| identify those same terms in each file, although there is no harm in
| doing so.
|
| > - There are other files, which include both a GPL license header
| > _plus_ some copyright note with an "All Rights Reserved" clause. It
| > has been my understanding that this is a conflict, and me must ask
| > the copyright holders to remove such "All Rights Reserved" clauses.
| > But then, some people claim that "All Rights Reserved" is a no-op
| > nowadays. License checking tools (like OSLC) seem to indicate this is
| > a problem, but then we see quite a lot of "All rights reserved" in
| > BSD-licensed files in gcc and glibc. So what is the correct way to
| > deal with such files?
|
| It is not a conflict to grant a license and also reserve all rights, as
| implicit in that language is that you are reserving all "other" rights
| not granted in the license.  Thus, a file with "Licensed under GPL, All
| Rights Reserved" would mean that it is licensed under the GPL, but no
| other rights are given to copy, modify or redistribute it.
|
| Warm regards,
| --Dan
|
| Daniel B. Ravicher, Legal Director
| Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) and Moglen Ravicher LLC
| 1995 Broadway, 17th Fl., New York, NY 10023
| (212) 461-1902 direct  (212) 580-0800 main  (212) 580-0898 fax
| ravicher@softwarefreedom.org   www.softwarefreedom.org

[1] http://spdx.org/
[2] http://spdx.org/licenses/

Signed-off-by: Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>
This commit is contained in:
Wolfgang Denk 2013-06-21 10:22:36 +02:00 committed by Tom Rini
parent 62c175fbb8
commit eca3aeb352
9 changed files with 149 additions and 114 deletions

15
Licenses/Exceptions Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
GPL License Exception:
Even though U-Boot in general is covered by the GPL-2.0/GPL-2.0+,
this does *not* cover the so-called "standalone" applications that
use U-Boot services by means of the jump table provided by U-Boot
exactly for this purpose - this is merely considered normal use of
U-Boot, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work".
The header files "include/image.h" and "arch/*/include/asm/u-boot.h"
define interfaces to U-Boot. Including these (unmodified) header
files in another file is considered normal use of U-Boot, and does
*not* fall under the heading of "derived work".
-- Wolfgang Denk

49
Licenses/README Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
U-Boot is Free Software. It is copyrighted by Wolfgang Denk and
many others who contributed code (see the actual source code and the
git commit messages for details). You can redistribute U-Boot and/or
modify it under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation. Most of it can
also be distributed, at your option, under any later version of the
GNU General Public License -- see individual files for exceptions.
NOTE! This license does *not* cover the so-called "standalone"
applications that use U-Boot services by means of the jump table
provided by U-Boot exactly for this purpose - this is merely
considered normal use of U-Boot, and does *not* fall under the
heading of "derived work" -- see file Licenses/Exceptions for
details.
Also note that the GPL and the other licenses are copyrighted by
the Free Software Foundation and other organizations, but the
instance of code that they refer to (the U-Boot source code) is
copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.
-- Wolfgang Denk
Like many other projects, U-Boot has a tradition of including big
blocks of License headers in all files. This not only blows up the
source code with mostly redundant information, but also makes it very
difficult to generate License Clearing Reports. An additional problem
is that even the same licenses are referred to by a number of
slightly varying text blocks (full, abbreviated, different
indentation, line wrapping and/or white space, with obsolete address
information, ...) which makes automatic processing a nightmare.
To make this easier, such license headers in the source files will be
replaced with a single line reference to Unique License Identifiers
as defined by the Linux Foundation's SPDX project [1]. For example,
in a source file the full "GPL v2.0 or later" header text will be
replaced by a single line:
SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
We use the SPDX Unique License Identifiers here; these are available
at [2].
[1] http://spdx.org/
[2] http://spdx.org/licenses/
Full name SPDX Identifier OSI Approved File name URI
=======================================================================================================================================
GNU General Public License v2.0 only GPL-2.0 Y gpl-2.0.txt http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later GPL-2.0+ Y gpl-2.0.txt http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt

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@ -1,34 +1,8 @@
U-Boot is Free Software. It is copyrighted by Wolfgang Denk and
many others who contributed code (see the actual source code for
details). You can redistribute U-Boot and/or modify it under the
terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation. Most of it can also be distributed,
at your option, under any later version of the GNU General Public
License -- see individual files for exceptions.
NOTE! This license does *not* cover the so-called "standalone"
applications that use U-Boot services by means of the jump table
provided by U-Boot exactly for this purpose - this is merely
considered normal use of U-Boot, and does *not* fall under the
heading of "derived work".
The header files "include/image.h" and "include/asm-*/u-boot.h"
define interfaces to U-Boot. Including these (unmodified) header
files in another file is considered normal use of U-Boot, 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 U-Boot
source code) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.
-- Wolfgang Denk
=======================================================================
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
@ -41,7 +15,7 @@ software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
@ -81,7 +55,7 @@ patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
@ -136,7 +110,7 @@ above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
@ -194,7 +168,7 @@ access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
@ -251,7 +225,7 @@ impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
be a consequence of the rest of this License.
8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
@ -304,3 +278,62 @@ PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be
mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
`Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
Public License instead of this License.

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@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
# Tool mainly for U-Boot Quality Assurance: build one or more board
# configurations with minimal verbosity, showing only warnings and
# errors.
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
usage()
{

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@ -1,24 +1,8 @@
#
# (C) Copyright 2000-2012
# (C) Copyright 2000-2013
# Wolfgang Denk, DENX Software Engineering, wd@denx.de.
#
# See file CREDITS for list of people who contributed to this
# project.
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundatio; either version 2 of
# the License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
# MA 02111-1307 USA
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
#
VERSION = 2013

20
README
View file

@ -1,24 +1,8 @@
#
# (C) Copyright 2000 - 2012
# (C) Copyright 2000 - 2013
# Wolfgang Denk, DENX Software Engineering, wd@denx.de.
#
# See file CREDITS for list of people who contributed to this
# project.
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
# the License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
# MA 02111-1307 USA
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
#
Summary:

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@ -1,26 +1,9 @@
#
# (C) Copyright 2000-2006
# (C) Copyright 2000-2013
# Wolfgang Denk, DENX Software Engineering, wd@denx.de.
#
# See file CREDITS for list of people who contributed to this
# project.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
# the License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
# MA 02111-1307 USA
#
#########################################################################
# Set shell to bash if possible, otherwise fall back to sh

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@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
#
# Parameters: Target Architecture CPU Board [VENDOR] [SOC]
#
# (C) 2002-2010 DENX Software Engineering, Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>
# (C) 2002-2013 DENX Software Engineering, Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
#
APPEND=no # Default: Create new config file

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@ -1,26 +1,9 @@
#
# (C) Copyright 2006
# (C) Copyright 2006-2013
# Wolfgang Denk, DENX Software Engineering, wd@denx.de.
#
# See file CREDITS for list of people who contributed to this
# project.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
# the License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
# MA 02111-1307 USA
#
#########################################################################
_depend: $(obj).depend