From nobody Fri Nov 22 22:29:25 2024 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-1.web.codeaurora.org [10.30.226.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8125818FDCE; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 10:38:51 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 ARC-Seal: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1731667131; cv=none; b=jGoMUGfHjUUCb8d4GUO/WiNSLezLpDVtGg6BHDy+Ze5GFOA9QrjjGXDQ9UlzUvW4F7LlfO6zyHnt9kg/i2ht549SFh3Lx184aIw9LPj4Anhg42w9YP0ct8Eh3Xgd+/l5lyJWbXeT2hVgvm9oAOyo3Za6n2nzk8WkEb7+KDU7ri4= ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1731667131; c=relaxed/simple; bh=shVHcw3WNIa3pbYlKTq7wOJKs+PhQDB4a8mCLOg2BaY=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:Message-ID:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=ewrqPegETMzdiCevapJ8QNEVnrFEIKavFG00pzN32LbCK5/U57LftxUQ7zCB17D/g1/OnHx2yLFjmt2QKHb2njf9zxUNxfN6mLEWZlIPsYm4gurSbRnl+WrJgXOCixIWZulK/pV1X33SLc30A5md50g4NuWY2hHADhJmzn1XfK0= ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=SSVQ41T+; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="SSVQ41T+" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 98440C4CECF; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 10:38:50 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=k20201202; t=1731667131; bh=shVHcw3WNIa3pbYlKTq7wOJKs+PhQDB4a8mCLOg2BaY=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:From; b=SSVQ41T+CC4JUHAGFK2hW1yUmu3t+OJ4Os7//NeOkhAFeM76XpvDPPpfl2ZmRztwi s7RN5YmYuZp6gUBXQyq81PDHEDIX8CwwnwGtSbYDdIiomFBwwpNCXvT1q5SMrPP2rK sdy/qqYPyfJ52+zLTxG0pMdHrwNqwHbAncoRAnZ10TMAb6kJHEPh/fnt1UDG6AGMRe XfOfQvQmD70XNZFjV1W64ZmFX97ruBIGwS1z1vOVBWZlFJkzqVL6Zp3xgeTOiOvjmS sw4Dp3kaRnXCQ0H3WGaLUnphGT9JnKaF76b0s8CfSIt+fmktInwNIix3+iT8Jw5rbK W7jkgtbwvixiA== From: =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig?= To: Jonathan Corbet , Thomas Gleixner , Greg Kroah-Hartman Cc: Werner Sembach , linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-spdx@vger.kernel.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org Subject: [PATCH] docs/licensing: Clarify wording about "GPL" and "Proprietary" Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2024 11:38:41 +0100 Message-ID: <20241115103842.585207-2-ukleinek@kernel.org> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.45.2 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" X-Developer-Signature: v=1; a=openpgp-sha256; l=3724; i=ukleinek@kernel.org; h=from:subject; bh=shVHcw3WNIa3pbYlKTq7wOJKs+PhQDB4a8mCLOg2BaY=; b=owEBbQGS/pANAwAKAY+A+1h9Ev5OAcsmYgBnNySyhNbpd9jNbMictTcNY8WBTJ5+Z3udDEZqi 0KaVRgcvzuJATMEAAEKAB0WIQQ/gaxpOnoeWYmt/tOPgPtYfRL+TgUCZzcksgAKCRCPgPtYfRL+ TrUeB/9Vlim6gusugJu/VZJG8BKbQUqk3EzSXlFWscPwPby6BU1/P5mdWh/hL3gMGX51efnhtA4 AewxlPJS2gY+Jh/r8kPpq/8VkNB8ndtcjSSHxxzSJ/J9aSVFdxvpNQZFmkG7mjs4kCVYJpSVGKd Q/Ms1HFovOe+wBBsV8U9SsFkc6o8QCT6hWEI9ANm3qExjCBkXrSY+nJStaLLmsTF4bzIcyTp5xD i/HTkGeLUOfltaBgjEwXqhHLURc/f7ne/zL59mAMpgxQSnH9JrRGu3RleS047GPmjrMeCv4MeVG nGf1c2EBkMM7p4o3cj2IyzS3bh6Tjraw6QutHVugVmP4toJO X-Developer-Key: i=ukleinek@kernel.org; a=openpgp; fpr=0D2511F322BFAB1C1580266BE2DCDD9132669BD6 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable There are currently some doubts about out-of-tree kernel modules licensed under GPLv3 and if they are supposed to be able to use symbols exported using EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL. Clarify that "Proprietary" means anything non-GPL2 even though the license might be an open source license. Also disambiguate "GPL compatible" to "GPLv2 compatible". Signed-off-by: Uwe Kleine-K=C3=B6nig --- Hello, these are the locations that I found by a quick grep. If you spot a document that needs similar updating, please tell. The change in license-rules.rst looks bigger than it actually is due to changing where the line wrappings occur. With `git diff --word-diff` it reduces to: "Proprietary" The module is under a proprietary license. {+"Proprietary" is to be understood only = as+} {+ "The license is not compatible to GPLv2".= +} This string is solely for [-proprietary-]= {+non-GPL2 compatible+} third party modules and cannot be used for Best regards Uwe Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst | 2 +- Documentation/process/license-rules.rst | 18 ++++++++++-------- 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst b/Documentation/kerne= l-hacking/hacking.rst index 1717348a4404..0042776a9e17 100644 --- a/Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst +++ b/Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst @@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ Defined in ``include/linux/export.h`` =20 Similar to :c:func:`EXPORT_SYMBOL()` except that the symbols exported by :c:func:`EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()` can only be seen by -modules with a :c:func:`MODULE_LICENSE()` that specifies a GPL +modules with a :c:func:`MODULE_LICENSE()` that specifies a GPLv2 compatible license. It implies that the function is considered an internal implementation issue, and not really an interface. Some maintainers and developers may however require EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() diff --git a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst b/Documentation/proces= s/license-rules.rst index 2ef44ada3f11..59a7832df7d0 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst @@ -471,14 +471,16 @@ _`MODULE_LICENSE` source files. =20 "Proprietary" The module is under a proprietary license. - This string is solely for proprietary third - party modules and cannot be used for modules - which have their source code in the kernel - tree. Modules tagged that way are tainting - the kernel with the 'P' flag when loaded and - the kernel module loader refuses to link such - modules against symbols which are exported - with EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(). + "Proprietary" is to be understood only as + "The license is not compatible to GPLv2". + This string is solely for non-GPL2 compa= tible + third party modules and cannot be used f= or + modules which have their source code in = the + kernel tree. Modules tagged that way are + tainting the kernel with the 'P' flag wh= en + loaded and the kernel module loader refu= ses + to link such modules against symbols whi= ch + are exported with EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(). =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D =20 =20 base-commit: 28955f4fa2823e39f1ecfb3a37a364563527afbc --=20 2.45.2