Projects/KDE Relicensing

    From KDE TechBase

    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 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.

    How can I help ?

    By identifying a contributor who as contributed under the terms of GPLv2 (svn log of the file in question), 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 LGPLv2 to LGPLv2+?
    • Are you okay with the KDE e.V. deciding on a future licensing change to your code, should that be necessary?

    Whats next?

    Hopefully soon we'll have a list of affected files. If you checked svn log of all the affected files and all the committers there agreeed to the relicensing, choose the most liberal option available for relicensing the file. Document your change wisely 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
    Bastian, Waldo NO NO YES YES YES
    Faure, David YES YES YES YES YES
    Granroth, Kurt YES YES YES YES YES
    Martyn, Greg YES YES YES YES YES
    Moore, Richard NO NO YES YES YES
    Mueller, Dirk YES YES YES YES NO
    Sand, Espen YES YES YES
    Schlaeger, Chris NO NO YES YES NO
    Tapsell, John YES YES YES YES YES
    Trueg, Sebastian (Exception: K3b) YES YES YES YES YES

    Current TODO List

    • Waldo Bastian
    • Matthias Kretz
    • Marc Mutz
    • KDAB
    • Tobias Koenig
    • Matt Broadstone
    • Matthew Woehlke
    • Casper Boemann