Projects/KDE Relicensing: Difference between revisions

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    A few parts of KDE are currently licensed as GPLv2 only. So far we have no reason to believe that this was something other than an oversight. However, we still need to validate with the individual copyright holders that a relicense to GPLv2+ or GPLv2+v3 is okay with them.  
    A few parts of KDE are currently licensed as GPLv2 only. So far we have no reason to believe that this was something other than an oversight. However, we still need to validate with the individual copyright holders that a relicense to GPLv2+ or GPLv2+v3 is okay with them.  


    Therefore, in an effort we're trying to identify the contributors that have contributed under the terms of GPLv2 and where the "+" part was not explicetly mentioned. If we know that all contributors agreed to a relicense, we can go ahead and flip the license of the individual source file.
    Therefore, in an effort we're trying to identify the contributors that have contributed under the terms of GPLv2 and where the "+" part was not explicitly mentioned. If we know that all contributors agreed to a relicense, we can go ahead and flip the license of the individual source file.


    == How can I help ? ==
    == How can I help ? ==

    Revision as of 01:33, 24 November 2007

    KDE GPL v2.0 Relicensing effort

    Why does it matter ?

    A couple of KDE dependent projects or even libraries have moved or are going to move to GPLv3 (State of GPLv3 movement).

    Unfortunately, GPL v3 is incompatible with GPL v2. This means that it is not possible to create a project linking GPL v2 and v3 code together. There is no problem for projects which are licensed GPLv2+ (version 2 or above).

    A few parts of KDE are currently licensed as GPLv2 only. So far we have no reason to believe that this was something other than an oversight. However, we still need to validate with the individual copyright holders that a relicense to GPLv2+ or GPLv2+v3 is okay with them.

    Therefore, in an effort we're trying to identify the contributors that have contributed under the terms of GPLv2 and where the "+" part was not explicitly mentioned. If we know that all contributors agreed to a relicense, we can go ahead and flip the license of the individual source file.

    How can I help ?

    By identifying a contributor who as contributed under the terms of GPLv2 (use kdesdk/scripts/relicensecheck.pl on the file in question or the Relicense Status Page), and contacting him if he wasn't already contacted. Ask him the following questions:

    • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under GPLv2 to GPLv2+?
    • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under GPLv2 to GPLv2 or GPLv3 ?
    • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under LGPLv2 to LGPLv2+?
    • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under LGPLv2 to LGPLv2 or LGPLv3?
    • Are you okay with the KDE e.V. deciding on a future licensing change to your code, should that be necessary?

    Whats next?

    1. you checkout relicensecheck.pl from trunk/KDE/kdesdk/scripts
    2. you run it on the file or directory in question
    3. you interpret the result. check each commit that is being complained about carefully. Try to get the copyright's holder's permission. if you get it, update the whitelist in the script.
    4. review the list of declared copyright holders in the file.
    5. if you're all clear, change the license to the most liberal license possible. Document your change verbosely in the SVN commit log.

    Current Reply List

    • Please keep the list sorted by family name!
    • Please only use "YES" or "NO"
    Name GPLv2->GPLv2+ LGPLv2 -> LGPLv2+ GPLv2 -> GPLv2+v3 LGPLv2 -> LGPLv2+LGPLv3 KDE e.V. decides
    Adam, Till YES YES YES YES NO
    Alsina, Roberto YES YES YES YES YES
    Armitage, Chani YES YES YES YES YES
    Bastian, Waldo NO NO YES YES YES
    Boemann, Casper YES YES YES YES YES
    Broadstone, Matt NO NO YES YES YES
    Connell, Charles YES YES YES YES NO
    Cullmann, Christoph NO NO YES YES NO
    Drummond, Craig YES YES YES YES YES
    Dymo, Alexander YES YES YES YES NO
    Edghill, Gregg YES YES YES YES NO
    Faure, David YES YES YES YES YES
    Granroth, Kurt YES YES YES YES YES
    Hausmann, Simon YES YES YES YES YES
    Hoeglund, Fredrik NO NO YES YES
    Kainhofer, Reinhold YES YES YES YES YES
    Kellet, Alexander YES YES YES YES YES
    Knight, Robert YES YES YES YES YES
    Kretz, Matthias NO NO YES YES NO
    Kulow, Stephan YES YES YES YES NO
    Lunak, Lubos YES YES YES YES NO
    Mac-Vicar, Duncan YES YES YES YES NO
    Macieira, Thiago YES YES YES YES YES
    Mantia, Andras NO NO YES YES YES
    Martyn, Greg YES YES YES YES YES
    McGuire, Thomas YES YES YES YES NO
    Molkentin, Daniel YES YES YES YES NO
    Montel, Laurent YES YES YES YES YES
    Moore, Richard NO NO YES YES YES
    Mueller, Dirk YES YES YES YES NO
    Mutz, Marc YES YES NO NO NO
    Ottens, Kevin YES YES YES YES YES
    Raabe, Frerich NO NO YES YES NO
    Riddell, Jonathan YES YES YES YES YES
    Sand, Espen YES YES YES
    Schlaeger, Chris NO NO YES YES NO
    Schumacher, Cornelius YES YES YES YES YES
    Seigo, Aaron YES YES YES YES YES
    Stephenson, Will YES YES YES YES YES
    Tapsell, John YES YES YES YES YES
    Toscano, Pino YES YES YES YES YES
    Trueg, Sebastian (Exception: K3b) YES YES YES YES YES
    Wallin, Inge YES YES YES YES
    Wolfer, Urs YES YES YES YES YES

    Current TODO List

    • KDAB
    • Tobias Koenig
    • Matthew Woehlke
    • Daniel Teske
    • Dawit Alemayehu
    • Alex Zepeda
    • Thomas Leitner
    • Lars Knoll
    • Kevin Ottens
    • Maksim Orlovich
    • Sirtaj Singh Kang
    • Karol Szwed
    • Thorsten Roeder
    • Joseph Wenninger

    Current list of problematic Files

    Tom Albers has written a webfrontend to relicensecheck.pl, which makes it really easy to find files that can already be relicensed, or for those that can not it is possible to easily see (via tooltip) which commits are preventing it.

    Visit the Relicensing Status Page

    Relicensing progress

    http://www.suse.de/~dmueller/licensing/files_KDE1.png