Opened on 06/21/17 at 17:54:07
Last modified on 11/15/22 at 16:54:42
#3053 new enhancement
Change RTEMS License to Two Paragraph BSD
Reported by: | Joel Sherrill | Owned by: | |
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Priority: | high | Milestone: | Indefinite |
Component: | unspecified | Version: | 5 |
Severity: | normal | Keywords: | license, BSD |
Cc: | Blocked By: | ||
Blocking: |
Description
RTEMS has long used the GPL v2 with an exception that eliminated the viral nature of the license. There has been discussion amongst the core developers and primary submitters about switching to the "Two Paragraph BSD" license. The consensus was that it was time to change. One reason was that the RTEMS license was modeled on a license no longer used by GCC language run-times. Another was that the "Two Paragraph BSD" license is easier to explain and understand. But the major reason was that the RTEMS Project has never imposed any license conformance burden on end user projects. The BSD license family is much clearer about that intent.
An announcement was made at the December 2015 Flight Software Workshop (http://flightsoftware.jhuapl.edu/files/_site/workshops/2015/). The slides and video are available for that presentation. No specific date was given but the core developer consensus was that we needed to focus on the 4.11 branch and, subsequently, the 4.12 release branches being made. With the 4.12 branch imminent, it is now time to ensure there is a ticket to track this effort and work through the relicensing as quickly and accurately as possible.
The relicensing effort will involve multiple activities:
- update web content to include and recommend Two Paragraph BSD license
- update coding conventions to recommend Two Paragraph BSD license
- identify contributors for each file
- some work has been done on this
- obtain permission from contributors to relicense
- update files with new license
- generate reports on licenses associated with a particular build of RTEMS
The content on relicensing from the Flight Software Workshop presentation is captured here.
Original rationale for GPL v2 + exception
- felt needed to establish a community
- “stick” to encourage submissions
- license was used by GCC language run-times
Rationale to switch
- RTEMS has a strong community
- users understand business value of submitting
- we have explained the “carrot”
- GPL v3 has soured some on GPL in general
Mechanics of Switching
- Permission from each submitter must be obtained
- permission obtained from top contributors
- All contributors to a file must give permission before that file can be relicensed
- Web form with confirmation email to grant permission to relicense
- Effort will be made to locate the “missing”
When Permission is Not Obtained
- Some files may never be relicensed
- If users fund, replacement may be written
- Older BSPs and ports may be obsoleted and removed on technical grounds
- These are the most likely to contain files to have contributors that are hard to find
Generation of License Report
- We are considering marking files with Linux Foundation sponsored https://SPDX.org annotation
- Standard annotation for open source licenses _ Examples: NASA-1.3, GPL-2.0
- Can annotate exceptions like current RTEMS license
- Example: GPL-2.0-with-linking-exception
- Tools exist to generate overall license reports
- RTEMS would have to integrate one with build system
Attachments (12)
Change History (297)
comment:1 Changed on 08/14/17 at 00:55:55 by Chris Johns
Milestone: | 5.0 → 4.12.0 |
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comment:2 Changed on 10/11/17 at 23:09:19 by Joel Sherrill
Milestone: | 4.12.0 → Indefinite |
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Changed on 08/07/18 at 21:11:13 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | OAR-RelicenseToBSD-d2.pdf added |
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OAR Corporation letter granting permission to relicense
comment:3 Changed on 08/07/18 at 21:14:51 by Joel Sherrill
A signed PDF from On-Line Applications Corporation (OAR) is attached to this ticket which grants the RTEMS Community permission to relicense current and future contributions. The text of the letter is as follows:
On-Line Applications Research Corporation (OAR) grants permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense its current and future contributions from our current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License (https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause). OAR shall work with the RTEMS Foundation to facilitate this change in the license as soon as possible.
comment:4 Changed on 11/27/18 at 05:50:37 by thomas.doerfler
embedded brains has signed and sent a letter granting relicensing.
Included are also letters from the individual developers:
- Sebastian Huber
- Christian Mauderer
- Alexander Krutwig
- Ralf Kirchner
- Peter Rasmussen
- Thomas Doerfler.
comment:6 Changed on 12/02/18 at 16:19:29 by Hesham Almatary
Hesham Almatary has signed and sent the relicence letter
comment:7 Changed on 12/03/18 at 13:55:16 by Jiri Gaisler
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Jiri Gaisler.
comment:9 Changed on 12/18/18 at 18:30:04 by Gedare Bloom
I sent in a letter to grant permission for re-licensing.
comment:12 Changed on 04/09/19 at 05:22:26 by Chris Johns
I sent in a letter to grant permission for re-licensing.
comment:13 Changed on 04/09/19 at 12:34:13 by Pavel Pisa
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions to the RTEMS public source to be relicensed to the 2-Clause BSD License.
Pavel Pisa
comment:16 Changed on 02/24/20 at 07:14:08 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
comment:18 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:33:52 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:19 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:33:55 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:21 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:02 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:24 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:13 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:31 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:37 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:33 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:44 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:35 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:51 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:37 Changed on 02/25/20 at 11:34:59 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:40 Changed on 03/06/20 at 14:13:14 by Kuan
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Kuan-Hsun Chen
comment:42 Changed on 09/18/20 at 16:57:09 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:43 Changed on 09/22/20 at 07:44:34 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:44 Changed on 09/28/20 at 05:18:13 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:45 Changed on 02/09/21 at 06:53:35 by pragnesh
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and
future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to
the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
comment:46 Changed on 02/09/21 at 07:19:33 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
In 570992dc/rtems:
comment:48 Changed on 05/15/21 at 15:06:34 by thomas.doerfler
In addition to my permission regarding my contributions in the name of embedded brains, I also grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions done in the name of IMD from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Thomas Doerfler.
comment:49 Changed on 05/17/21 at 15:30:54 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:50 Changed on 06/10/21 at 06:11:24 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:51 Changed on 06/11/21 at 05:26:55 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:52 Changed on 06/16/21 at 05:35:47 by Richi Dubey
Hi,
For the files cpukit/score/src/schedulerstrongapa.c, and cpukit/include/rtems/score/schedulerstrongapa.h the license has been changed to BSD-2-Clause according to file history and re-licensing agreement.
comment:53 Changed on 06/17/21 at 15:24:57 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:55 Changed on 06/24/21 at 10:30:23 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:57 Changed on 07/28/21 at 17:06:42 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:58 Changed on 09/06/21 at 10:20:59 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:61 Changed on 11/30/21 at 08:32:07 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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Changed on 03/02/22 at 21:36:59 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | JakeJanovetz-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Jake Janovetz
comment:89 Changed on 03/02/22 at 21:37:36 by Joel Sherrill
Referenced permission from Jacob Janovetz via email. PDF is attached.
Changed on 03/03/22 at 19:34:36 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | JayMonkman-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Jay Monkman
comment:90 Changed on 03/03/22 at 19:34:54 by Joel Sherrill
Referenced permission from Jacob Janovetz via email. PDF is attached.
comment:91 Changed on 03/05/22 at 00:50:07 by Tomasz Gregorek
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense all my contributions from the current license to the 2 clause BSD license.
Changed on 03/08/22 at 14:35:54 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | Rtems_Relicensing_IPR_2018-11-18.pdf added |
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Permission from IPR (Peter Rasmussen) predecessor company to embedded brains GmbH
Changed on 03/08/22 at 14:36:19 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | Zustimmung Thomas Dörfler IMD an die RTEMS Foundation.pdf added |
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Permission from IMD (Thomas Doerfler) predecessor company to embedded brains GmbH
comment:92 Changed on 03/08/22 at 14:36:39 by Joel Sherrill
Add permission letters (PDF) for submissions for IMD and IPR. These were the companies Thomas Doerfler and Peter Rasmussen merged to form embedded brains GmbH.
Changed on 03/08/22 at 18:53:41 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | EricNorum-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Eric Norum
comment:93 Changed on 03/08/22 at 18:54:46 by Joel Sherrill
Added PDF of permission email from Eric Norum.
Changed on 03/20/22 at 23:33:07 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | AnthonyGreen-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Anthony Green
Changed on 03/21/22 at 17:08:14 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | AmaanCheval-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Amaan Cheval
comment:120 Changed on 03/25/22 at 21:45:57 by Krzysztof Miesowicz
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Changed on 03/27/22 at 15:51:21 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | PetrBenes-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Petr Benes
comment:133 Changed on 04/01/22 at 19:41:53 by Andrey Mozzhuhin
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Changed on 04/02/22 at 19:08:46 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | FernandoRuizCasas-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Fernando Ruiz Casas
comment:144 Changed on 04/06/22 at 22:04:29 by Ric Claus
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
Changed on 04/08/22 at 17:21:52 by Joel Sherrill
Attachment: | TillStraumann-Permission.pdf added |
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Permission email from Till Straumann
comment:153 Changed on 04/08/22 at 21:35:17 by Santosh Vattam
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
comment:154 Changed on 04/09/22 at 16:52:12 by eshan dhawan
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions to the RTEMS public source to be relicensed to the 2-Clause BSD License.
Eshan Dhawan
comment:155 Changed on 04/09/22 at 22:32:22 by Alex Ivanov
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
comment:194 Changed on 05/08/22 at 05:35:58 by Jianjun Shen
I grant permission to the RTEMS Foundation to relicense my current and
future contributions from the current license GPLv2 plus exception to
the RTEMS license becoming the 2-Clause BSD License.
comment:195 Changed on 05/18/22 at 09:30:18 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:196 Changed on 05/18/22 at 09:30:20 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:197 Changed on 05/18/22 at 09:30:23 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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comment:198 Changed on 05/18/22 at 09:30:25 by Sebastian Huber <sebastian.huber@…>
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Changed on 07/08/22 at 16:13:30 by Daniel Hellstrom
Attachment: | CG-BSD2-relicensing.pdf added |
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Cobham Gaisler BSD-2 relicensing
comment:221 Changed on 07/08/22 at 16:17:28 by Daniel Hellstrom
Cobham Gaisler grant permission for the relicensing to BSD-2 according to the signed document attached to the thread:
https://devel.rtems.org/attachment/ticket/3053/CG-BSD2-relicensing.pdf
Please review and update the milestone. Thanks.