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authorMauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>2018-03-23 12:51:05 +0300
committerJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>2018-03-23 21:41:35 +0300
commit88de995ccf48acaf4eced7ef485118b6bc65b880 (patch)
tree7cb0a7ed0cd4de52a6ef13f64b8a7c32eb4abc69 /Documentation/process
parentaebb47d4e7a9c5a4f456aa0b2e1f7d612d1c78ba (diff)
downloadlinux-88de995ccf48acaf4eced7ef485118b6bc65b880.tar.xz
COPYING: create a new file with points to the Kernel license files
With the addition of SPDX patchset, the contents of COPYING file is now duplicated at two other files under LICENSE: LICENSES/preferred/GPL-2.0 LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note It is easy to check that the contents of the licence written on those files are identical with COPYING using: $ diff -upr COPYING LICENSES/preferred/GPL-2.0 $ diff -upr COPYING LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note|less Also, a new file was added, with describes how SPDX should work at the Kernel source files: Documentation/process/license-rules.rst Instead fo having it copying the contents of two files, and not even mentioning the third one, replace it by a file whose content points to the other tree files, preserving the Kernel's license. Adjust license-rules.rst accordingly. Please notice that this file preserves the Kernel license as is, without any changes. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com> Reviewed-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/license-rules.rst20
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst b/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
index 408f77dc6157..8ea26325fe3f 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
@@ -4,15 +4,17 @@ Linux kernel licensing rules
============================
The Linux Kernel is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public
-License version 2 only (GPL-2.0), as published by the Free Software
-Foundation, and provided in the COPYING file. This documentation file is
-not meant to replace the COPYING file, but provides a description of how
-each source file should be annotated to make the licensing it is governed
-under clear and unambiguous.
-
-The license in the COPYING file applies to the kernel source as a whole,
-though individual source files can have a different license which is
-required to be compatible with the GPL-2.0::
+License version 2 only (GPL-2.0), as provided in LICENSES/preferred/GPL-2.0,
+with an explicit syscall exception described in
+LICENSES/exceptions/Linux-syscall-note, as described in the COPYING file.
+
+This documentation file provides a description of how each source file
+should be annotated to make its license clear and unambiguous.
+It doesn't replace the Kernel's license.
+
+The license described in the COPYING file applies to the kernel source
+as a whole, though individual source files can have a different license
+which is required to be compatible with the GPL-2.0::
GPL-1.0+ : GNU General Public License v1.0 or later
GPL-2.0+ : GNU General Public License v2.0 or later