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Patch file clarification & Co

PATCH New Luca Ceresoli 3 participants 4 messages Mar 1, 2016

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#0 lore raw

PATCH v4 1/1 Patch file clarification & Co

Hi,

several Buildroot users reportedly asked details about how the patches bundled with Buildroot are licensed.

Following the discussion during the latest Buildroot Developer Days, a clarification has already been applied to COPYING.

The present patch adds the same clarification to the manual.

I removed the last patch of v2 ("legal-info: explicitly state how patches are licensed"): it will only makes sense after Yann's improvements to save the patches in legal-info will be applied. When this happens, I'll take care to resend it.

Luca Ceresoli (1):
docs/manual: add section about patch licensing

 docs/manual/legal-notice.txt | 17 +++++++++++++++--
 docs/manual/patch-policy.txt |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
Signature · 1 line
1.9.1
#1 lore raw

PATCH v4 1/1 docs/manual: add section about patch licensing

Use the same text that is used in COPYING.

Cc "Yann E. MORIN" <[email protected]>
Cc Arnout Vandecappelle (Essensium/Mind) <[email protected]>
Cc Peter Korsgaard <[email protected]>
Cc Thomas Petazzoni <[email protected]>
Cc Steve Calfee <[email protected]>

---

Changes v3 -> v4:
- entirely replace with the same text approved for COPYING (Yann), but keeping the hyperlink to patch-policy.

Changes v2 -> v3:
- various wording improvements (Yann, Arnout).

Changes v1 -> v2:
- "they modify" -> "they apply to" (Thomas).

---
 docs/manual/legal-notice.txt | 17 +++++++++++++++--
 docs/manual/patch-policy.txt |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
docs/manual/legal-notice.txt +15 -2
index 0a91c37..0572dae 100644
@@ -134,11 +134,13 @@ Buildroot, with the name used in the manifest files:
   http://apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html[
   Apache License, version 2.0];
 
+[[legal-info-buildroot]]
 === Complying with the Buildroot license
 
 Buildroot itself is an open source software, released under the
-http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html[GNU General Public
-License, version 2] or (at your option) any later version.
+http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html[GNU General
+Public License, version 2] or (at your option) any later version, with
+the exception of the package patches detailed below.
 However, being a build system, it is not normally part of the end product:
 if you develop the root filesystem, kernel, bootloader or toolchain for a
 device, the code of Buildroot is only present on the development machine, not
@@ -159,3 +161,14 @@ material that must be redistributed.
 
 Keep in mind that this is only the Buildroot developers' opinion, and you
 should consult your legal department or lawyer in case of any doubt.
+
+==== Patches to packages
+
+Buildroot also bundles patch files, which are applied to the sources
+of the various packages. Those patches are not covered by the license
+of Buildroot. Instead, they are covered by the license of the software
+to which the patches are applied. When said software is available
+under multiple licenses, the Buildroot patches are only provided under
+the publicly accessible licenses.
+
+See xref:patch-policy[] for the technical details.
docs/manual/patch-policy.txt +1 -1
index d50c971..5a1fe4f 100644
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ If something goes wrong in the steps _3_ or _4_, then the build fails.
 === Format and licensing of the package patches
 
 Patches are released under the same license as the software they apply
-to.
+to (see xref:legal-info-buildroot[]).
 
 A message explaining what the patch does, and why it is needed, should
 be added in the header commentary of the patch.
Signature · 1 line
1.9.1
#2 lore raw

PATCH v4 1/1 docs/manual: add section about patch licensing

Luca,

Quoted 8 lines · Luca Ceresoli

Use the same text that is used in COPYING.

Cc "Yann E. MORIN" <[email protected]>
Cc Arnout Vandecappelle (Essensium/Mind) <[email protected]>
Cc Peter Korsgaard <[email protected]>
Cc Thomas Petazzoni <[email protected]>
Cc Steve Calfee <[email protected]>

This can go in 2016.02 IMO.

Best regards,

Thomas

Signature · 3 lines
Thomas Petazzoni, CTO, Free Electrons
Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering
http://free-electrons.com
#3 lore raw

PATCH v4 1/1 docs/manual: add section about patch licensing

In reply to Luca Ceresoli
Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

"Luca" == Luca Ceresoli <[email protected]> writes:

Use the same text that is used in COPYING.

Cc "Yann E. MORIN" <[email protected]>
Cc Arnout Vandecappelle (Essensium/Mind) <[email protected]>
Cc Peter Korsgaard <[email protected]>
Cc Thomas Petazzoni <[email protected]>
Cc Steve Calfee <[email protected]>
Quoted 5 lines

---

Changes v3 -> v4:
- entirely replace with the same text approved for COPYING (Yann), but keeping the hyperlink to patch-policy.

Committed, thanks.

Signature · 2 lines
Venlig hilsen,
Peter Korsgaard