Re: license relaxation request

[Eric Blake]

On 10/17/2011 05:58 PM, Bruno Haible wrote:
> Hi Eric,
>
> > Can we relax the license of the following modules from LGPLv3+ down to
> > LGPLv2+, so that libvirt can use them, and on the grounds that they are
> > shipped as part of LGPLv2+ glibc?
> >
> > grantpt
> > unlockpt
> > pt_chown
> > ptsname
> > ttyname_r
>
> This is fine with me. ttyname_r is written by me, not from glibc, and I'm
> not sure the code in glibc would help if someone would want to reimplement it.
> But fine with me.

Okay, I'll go ahead and push the patch below.

> > I'm also planning on adding a posix_openpt module.
>
> This is not needed. As you can see from the code in lib/openpt.c,
> posix_openpt() is one part of openpty(). Since we have an openpty() that
> works on all Unix platforms, and openpty() comes from the glibc API,
> why should anyone want to use posix_openpt()?

Would you mind also relaxing the license on openpty() to LGPLv2+, now 
that all its components have been relaxed?

Also, I got a build failure when trying to use the grantpt module in 
libvirt:

  CCLD   libgnu.la
  CC     pt_chown.o
make[4]: *** No rule to make target `libgnu.a', needed by `pt_chown'.  Stop.

Looks like the gnulib-tool output is not considering the possibility of 
libtool mixing with the creation of pt_chown.  For that matter, does 
pt_chown even need to be built on Linux, or can we rework things to only 
build it on platforms where the grantpt() replacement is compiled?

diff --git i/ChangeLog w/ChangeLog
index fc42c53..bd08758 100644
--- i/ChangeLog
+++ w/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2011-10-19  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
+
+       ptsname and others: relax license
+       * modules/grantpt (License): Change from LGPLv3+ to LGPLv2+.
+       * modules/unlockpt (License): Likewise.
+       * modules/pt_chown (License): Likewise.
+       * modules/ptsname (License): Likewise.
+       * modules/ttyname_r (License): Likewise.
+
 2011-10-19  Jim Meyering  <address@hidden>

        posix_openpt: remove spurious #endif
diff --git i/modules/grantpt w/modules/grantpt
index c5e76f0..5fd6537 100644
--- i/modules/grantpt
+++ w/modules/grantpt
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Include:
 <stdlib.h>

 License:
-LGPL
+LGPLv2+

 Maintainer:
 Bruno Haible
diff --git i/modules/pt_chown w/modules/pt_chown
index 0002ab7..9606a02 100644
--- i/modules/pt_chown
+++ w/modules/pt_chown
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ pt_chown_LDADD = libgnu.a
 Include:

 License:
-LGPL
+LGPLv2+

 Maintainer:
 glibc
diff --git i/modules/ptsname w/modules/ptsname
index 985b79b..58560d6 100644
--- i/modules/ptsname
+++ w/modules/ptsname
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Include:
 <stdlib.h>

 License:
-LGPL
+LGPLv2+

 Maintainer:
 Bruno Haible
diff --git i/modules/ttyname_r w/modules/ttyname_r
index f68d9b1..62ca572 100644
--- i/modules/ttyname_r
+++ w/modules/ttyname_r
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Include:
 <unistd.h>

 License:
-LGPL
+LGPLv2+

 Maintainer:
 Bruno Haible
diff --git i/modules/unlockpt w/modules/unlockpt
index b5d98cf..cca3f16 100644
--- i/modules/unlockpt
+++ w/modules/unlockpt
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Include:
 <stdlib.h>

 License:
-LGPL
+LGPLv2+

 Maintainer:
 Bruno Haible


--
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org