Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] qapi: Fix licensing of scripts

[Markus Armbruster]

Peter Maydell <address@hidden> writes:

> On 30 January 2014 10:34, Markus Armbruster <address@hidden> wrote:
>> The scripts carry this copyright notice:
>>
>>     # This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPLv2.
>>     # See the COPYING.LIB file in the top-level directory.
>>
>> The sentences contradict each other, as COPYING.LIB contains the LGPL
>> 2.1.  Michael Roth says this was a simple pasto, and he meant to refer
>> COPYING.  Let's fix that.
>
> LPGL2 specifically allows applying GPL2 terms, so this
> is an easy fix that doesn't require us to get permission
> from anybody...

Aha.

>> Relicense to GPLv2+ while we're at it.
>
> ...so why tie it to a change that does require everybody
> to engage the (potentially ponderous and slow) legal
> machinery required to do a relicensing?

I wasn't aware of the possibility of an easy fix, so I wanted to
maximize the gain from the relicensing trouble.

>                                         It gains us
> nothing as far as I can see because (as we've already
> established) there's basically zero chance that QEMU
> will go GPL2+ in future; we have too much 2-only code.

It gains the QEMU project nothing.  It may gain somebody else something:
the ability to steal this code and put it to another use in free
software compatible with 2+ but not 2-only.  That's a social good.