From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Google-Smtp-Source: AH8x226baAsWTrrXyjnj0dMrX9SwWEv/9/e3UA/5FQzpPx5YL/4ZzPC4NJaqv3GUKdcv1gbkWhE/ ARC-Seal: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; t=1518456022; cv=none; d=google.com; s=arc-20160816; b=OeXVRFmCg3apW4ux44ZMZArSzKt+s9IXXjC6ljScnA1TtGTsHBMWu3VuO0ddOPBcVx YSG0qq8qnaZPAbZ9vVtQ/Lwd9oJb6fn0h0W8Mt9VYBmKZiW2pzPJMPmONR6oe0RHnRhB 5LFliHZy+UIxO3C9yTmdwLSeWSBB1dmFqpv6H3GYqkIGJMZwOFNOs9k2qJR2iWowg6Jx Nws+z5GA3jXof6ajIhBBojo80zZkRKhcIOnBhXtpu8rK30yWxBbxT5GYjjYDCIOxktLm MZZPsbTNpbhpQ0uwtZRSIvAdMocs7zSksUvA/PGrMTw6rgaaUz+KiIFpOtL6OJ9D6sDf gnyw== ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=arc-20160816; h=user-agent:in-reply-to:content-disposition:mime-version:references :message-id:subject:cc:to:from:date:dkim-signature:dkim-signature :arc-authentication-results; bh=NMhSzjWpoKE9vIY691GMVNLVnwv2WPoQtW5F5wbgYZI=; b=bpcve3BRqMiTQXakcJCxFGAFzF8F6Kjk0amCYzh0brxhffIoWuI4BMFgK3+Ns0GRg1 hjeqPjUEFRYgx3UTpKeXTJaxeQDtux9CqtVPpEIWq7MA2TKaBKnsjlxt0qu++L/RgW6t hvGKU4cEVOvAe2hjKJmJQ0gnNgIPeVo0kh/rptGG+EB+eBJZ5HchNPLldukbt5adif+E Z2H/OA9bMxa0lzf7syqd4vtMyMkmWa3IsM/jQOewKnNJtcPs/Tl9T4EByFNsC6ilwXev pZtTlTJwYYZXrFDafr3JB7DKuLZn6vafwdbNAyzVZZdSunEERQA+19AWv1G98Mc2t6P7 yDbg== ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; mx.google.com; dkim=pass header.i=@infradead.org header.s=casper.20170209 header.b=Sk3GMuli; dkim=pass header.i=@infradead.org header.s=bombadil.20170209 header.b=ULS+WJUi; spf=pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of willy@infradead.org designates 2001:8b0:10b:1236::1 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=willy@infradead.org Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; dkim=pass header.i=@infradead.org header.s=casper.20170209 header.b=Sk3GMuli; dkim=pass header.i=@infradead.org header.s=bombadil.20170209 header.b=ULS+WJUi; spf=pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of willy@infradead.org designates 2001:8b0:10b:1236::1 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=willy@infradead.org Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 09:19:17 -0800 From: Matthew Wilcox To: Jonathan Corbet Cc: Igor Stoppa , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Thomas Gleixner , Philippe Ombredanne , Kate Stewart , Greg Kroah-Hartman Subject: License documentation Message-ID: <20180212171917.GA9396@bombadil.infradead.org> References: <20180130151446.24698-1-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> <20180130151446.24698-6-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> <20180130100852.2213b94d@lwn.net> <56eb3e0d-d74d-737a-9f85-fead2c40c17c@huawei.com> <20180210033714.GA12711@bombadil.infradead.org> <20180212082849.1377f7e6@lwn.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20180212082849.1377f7e6@lwn.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.9.2 (2017-12-15) X-getmail-retrieved-from-mailbox: INBOX X-GMAIL-THRID: =?utf-8?q?1592216541836755466?= X-GMAIL-MSGID: =?utf-8?q?1592216541836755466?= X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 08:28:49AM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote: > On Fri, 9 Feb 2018 19:37:14 -0800 > Matthew Wilcox wrote: > > > I've done this as the first line of my new documentation files: > > > > .. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 > > > > I think this is the CC license that's closest in spirit to the GPL without > > the unintended consequences of the GPL when used on documentation. The > > GFDL seems to be out of favour these days. > > I think that's a great license. I still fear that it is not suitable for > kernel documentation, though, especially when we produce documents that > include significant text from the (GPL-licensed) kernel source. The > result is almost certainly not distributable, and I don't think that's a > good thing. The GPL is not perfect for documentation, but I don't think > that we have a better alternative for in-kernel docs. That's a reasonable concern. I've read other reasonable concerns about the unintended effects of using the GPL to produce a printed book (eg can you print it in a proprietary font, do you have to provide an electronic version of the text, and so on). I fear these wise words still ring true: But the real problem is that we as a community lack a copyleft license that works well for both code and text. About the only thing that even comes close to working is putting the documentation under the GPL as well, but the GPL is a poor fit for text. Nonetheless, it may be the best we have in cases where GPL-licensed code is to be incorporated into documentation. I dare suggest another possibility: that we create a further exception to the license that the kernel is distributed under. Something along these lines: Documentation [1] extracted from files marked as GPL [2] may be distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license. [1] This includes text explicitly marked for extraction using the kernel-doc tool. It may include short example code sequences. It does not include code that would normally be expected to be compiled. [2] GPL-2.0, GPL-2.0+, GPL-1.0+, LGPL-2.0, LGPL-2.0+, LGPL-2.1, LGPL-2.1+ We'd want to run it by a lawyer, of course, to have them check for unintended consequences.