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License issue #323

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sbabic opened this issue Dec 8, 2020 · 5 comments
Closed

License issue #323

sbabic opened this issue Dec 8, 2020 · 5 comments
Labels
question Not a bug, clarifications, undocumented behaviour
Milestone
v5.12

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@sbabic
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sbabic commented Dec 8, 2020

Sorry if I crosspost - I sent this before to linux-btrfs (it seems the wrong place).
I ask about license for btrfs-progs and related
libraries. I would like to use libbtrfsutils in a FOSS project, but this
is licensed under GPLv3 (even not LGPL) and it forbids to use it in
projects where secure boot is used.
Checking code in btrfs-progs, btrfs is licensed under GPv2 (fine !) and
also libbtrfs. But I read also that libbtrfs is thought to be dropped
from the project. And checking btrfs, this is linked against
libbtrfsutils, making the whole project GPLv3 (and again, not suitable
for many industrial applications in embedded systems).
@kdave kdave added the question Not a bug, clarifications, undocumented behaviour label Dec 8, 2020
@kdave
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kdave commented Dec 8, 2020 •
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libbtrfsutil is supposed to be used a library, so it's LGPL 3, while the rest of the btrfs-progs is GPL 2.
libbtrfs was an ad-hoc export of some functionality and given that it's wrapped GPL 2 code, it can't be used as a library (headers + .so) in all usecases

No code in btrfs-progs is GPL 3. There's the file libbtrfsutil/COPYIING (added in 502e2a3) but in my understanding it's there to accompany libbtrfsutil/COPYING.LESSER, as it starts with

  This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates
the terms and conditions of version 3 of the GNU General Public
License, supplemented by the additional permissions listed below.

  0. Additional Definitions.
[...]

@kdave
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kdave commented Mar 17, 2021

Related https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/YFHtnGvRH+QlwRN6@angband.pl/T/#u and https://bugs.debian.org/985400

The problem is that btrfs (GPL v2 only) statically links against libbtrfsutil (LGPL v3), which is not compatible: http://gplv3.fsf.org/dd3-faq#gpl-compat-matrix

That might might be convincing enough to relicence libbtrfsuiltil to LGPL v2.

@kdave
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kdave commented Mar 17, 2021

mpv-player/mpv#2033 how a relicensing was done in another project.

@kdave kdave added this to the v5.12 milestone Mar 17, 2021
@lorddoskias
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Relicense request has been sent and by the looks of it it will be accepted. https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/20210317200144.1067314-1-ngompa@fedoraproject.org/T/

kdave pushed a commit that referenced this issue Apr 16, 2021
@Conan-Kudo @kdave
btrfs-progs: libbtrfsutil: relicense to LGPLv2.1+
ecda14e 
This relicenses the libbtrfsutil library to LGPLv2.1+ from LGPLv3.
People that have contributed non-trivial changes acknowledged the change
and are listed below.

There's a potential licensing conflict with the 'btrfs' utility that is
GPLv2 and statically links libbtrfsutil, this is not a valid combination
per the compatibility matrix as found in
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#AllCompatibility or
http://gplv3.fsf.org/dd3-faq .

We also have an explicit request to change the license [1] (issue #323)
from LGPLv3 to allow use in environments that don't like GPLv3. Though
the library license is not GPLv3, the full text of the license is in the
repository and the 'lesser' part is an addendum. This was perhaps a bit
confusing, nevertheless this gets clarified as well.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/b927ca28-e280-4d79-184f-b72867dbdaa8@denx.de/

Acked-by: Omar Sandoval <osandov@fb.com>
Acked-by: Misono Tomhiro <misono.tomohiro@jp.fujitsu.com>
Acked-by: Qu Wenruo <wqu@suse.com>
Acked-by: Marcos Paulo de Souza <mpdesouza@suse.com>
Acked-by: Anand Jain <anand.jain@oracle.com>
Acked-by: Zygo Blaxell <ce3g8jdj@umail.furryterror.org>
Link: https://bugs.debian.org/985400
Issue: #323
Signed-off-by: Neal Gompa <ngompa@fedoraproject.org>
Signed-off-by: David Sterba <dsterba@suse.com>
halstead pushed a commit to openembedded/openembedded-core that referenced this issue Apr 18, 2021
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
0f75bb0 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
kraj pushed a commit to YoeDistro/poky-old that referenced this issue Apr 18, 2021
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
994de70 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

(From OE-Core rev: 0f75bb0e4d99c658302e28435d055b4f99dcc247)

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
kraj pushed a commit to YoeDistro/poky-old that referenced this issue Apr 19, 2021
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
80182f6 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

(From OE-Core rev: 0f75bb0e4d99c658302e28435d055b4f99dcc247)

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
@kdave
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kdave commented Apr 19, 2021

Change to LGPL 2.1+ pushed to devel, closing.

@kdave kdave closed this as completed Apr 19, 2021
kdave pushed a commit that referenced this issue Apr 19, 2021
@Conan-Kudo @kdave
libbtrfsutil: relicense to LGPLv2.1+
9210d64 
This relicenses the libbtrfsutil library to LGPLv2.1+ from LGPLv3.
People that have contributed non-trivial changes acknowledged the change
and are listed below.

There's a potential licensing conflict with the 'btrfs' utility that is
GPLv2 and statically links libbtrfsutil, this is not a valid combination
per the compatibility matrix as found in
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#AllCompatibility or
http://gplv3.fsf.org/dd3-faq .

We also have an explicit request to change the license [1] (issue #323)
from LGPLv3 to allow use in environments that don't like GPLv3. Though
the library license is not GPLv3, the full text of the license is in the
repository and the 'lesser' part is an addendum. This was perhaps a bit
confusing, nevertheless this gets clarified as well.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/b927ca28-e280-4d79-184f-b72867dbdaa8@denx.de/

Acked-by: Omar Sandoval <osandov@fb.com>
Acked-by: Misono Tomhiro <misono.tomohiro@jp.fujitsu.com>
Acked-by: Qu Wenruo <wqu@suse.com>
Acked-by: Marcos Paulo de Souza <mpdesouza@suse.com>
Acked-by: Anand Jain <anand.jain@oracle.com>
Acked-by: Zygo Blaxell <ce3g8jdj@umail.furryterror.org>
Link: https://bugs.debian.org/985400
Issue: #323
Signed-off-by: Neal Gompa <ngompa@fedoraproject.org>
Signed-off-by: David Sterba <dsterba@suse.com>
kraj pushed a commit to YoeDistro/poky-old that referenced this issue Apr 20, 2021
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
46b4902 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

(From OE-Core rev: 0f75bb0e4d99c658302e28435d055b4f99dcc247)

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
kdave pushed a commit that referenced this issue Apr 20, 2021
@Conan-Kudo @kdave
libbtrfsutil: relicense to LGPLv2.1+
9e30f77 
This relicenses the libbtrfsutil library to LGPLv2.1+ from LGPLv3.
People that have contributed non-trivial changes acknowledged the change
and are listed below.

There's a potential licensing conflict with the 'btrfs' utility that is
GPLv2 and statically links libbtrfsutil, this is not a valid combination
per the compatibility matrix as found in
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#AllCompatibility or
http://gplv3.fsf.org/dd3-faq .

We also have an explicit request to change the license [1] (issue #323)
from LGPLv3 to allow use in environments that don't like GPLv3. Though
the library license is not GPLv3, the full text of the license is in the
repository and the 'lesser' part is an addendum. This was perhaps a bit
confusing, nevertheless this gets clarified as well.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/b927ca28-e280-4d79-184f-b72867dbdaa8@denx.de/

Acked-by: Omar Sandoval <osandov@fb.com>
Acked-by: Misono Tomhiro <misono.tomohiro@jp.fujitsu.com>
Acked-by: Qu Wenruo <wqu@suse.com>
Acked-by: Marcos Paulo de Souza <mpdesouza@suse.com>
Acked-by: Anand Jain <anand.jain@oracle.com>
Acked-by: Zygo Blaxell <ce3g8jdj@umail.furryterror.org>
Link: https://bugs.debian.org/985400
Issue: #323
Signed-off-by: Neal Gompa <ngompa@fedoraproject.org>
Signed-off-by: David Sterba <dsterba@suse.com>
daregit pushed a commit to daregit/yocto-combined that referenced this issue May 22, 2024
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
src/poky:btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
f18c1d1 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

(From OE-Core rev: 0f75bb0e4d99c658302e28435d055b4f99dcc247)

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
daregit pushed a commit to daregit/yocto-combined that referenced this issue May 22, 2024
@bobolopolis @rpurdie
src/poky:btrfs-tools: Update to 5.11.1
a4c9507 
Update licensing, as libtrfsutil is under LGPLv3+. Note that libtrfsutil
is in the process of being relicensed to LGPLv2.1+:
	kdave/btrfs-progs#323

(From OE-Core rev: 0f75bb0e4d99c658302e28435d055b4f99dcc247)

Signed-off-by: Robert Joslyn <robert.joslyn@redrectangle.org>
Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
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@sbabic @kdave @lorddoskias