linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 4/4] agents: add legal requirements and agent attribution guidelines

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Message-ID: <771aef93-df3e-4a9b-b6d9-3a5057f77ddb@oss.qualcomm.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2025 15:08:45 -0700
From: Jeff Johnson <jeff.johnson@....qualcomm.com>
To: Sasha Levin <sashal@...nel.org>, corbet@....net, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
        workflows@...r.kernel.org
Cc: josh@...htriplett.org, kees@...nel.org, konstantin@...uxfoundation.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, rostedt@...dmis.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/4] agents: add legal requirements and agent attribution
 guidelines

On 7/27/2025 12:58 PM, Sasha Levin wrote:
> And below is the first test of this scheme:
> 
> Co-developed-by: Claude claude-opus-4-20250514
> Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@...nel.org>
> ---
>  Documentation/agents/index.rst |  3 ++-
>  Documentation/agents/legal.rst | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  Documentation/agents/main.rst  |  5 ++++
>  3 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>  create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/legal.rst
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/agents/index.rst b/Documentation/agents/index.rst
> index 354af3f025e5..982602db3349 100644
> --- a/Documentation/agents/index.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/agents/index.rst
> @@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ Agents
>  
>     main
>     core
> -   coding-style
> \ No newline at end of file
> +   coding-style
> +   legal
> \ No newline at end of file
> diff --git a/Documentation/agents/legal.rst b/Documentation/agents/legal.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..67e6b2cdff9d
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/agents/legal.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
> +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
> +
> +===============================
> +Legal Requirements for Agents
> +===============================
> +
> +This document outlines critical legal requirements that coding agents must follow when working with the Linux kernel codebase.
> +
> +Licensing Requirements
> +----------------------
> +
> +**GPL-2.0 License**
> +  The Linux kernel is licensed under GPL-2.0 only with a syscall exception. Coding agents MUST follow this licensing rule with no exceptions. Any code contributed must be compatible with this license.
> +
> +**SPDX License Identifiers**
> +  All files must have proper SPDX license identifiers. For most kernel source files, this should be the first line of the file in the appropriate comment format:
> +
> +  - For C source/header files: ``// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``
> +  - For scripts: ``# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``
> +  - For documentation: ``.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0``

I believe the agent has not processed the following correctly:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/license-rules.html

1) C header files use /* SPDX-License-Identifier: <expression> */
2) Contributions need not be GPL-2.0, "individual files can be provided under
a dual license, e.g. one of the compatible GPL variants and alternatively
under a permissive license like BSD, MIT etc."

These two issues jumped out at me...

/jeff