linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] LICENSES: Explicitly allow SPDX-FileCopyrightText

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Message-ID: <2026010724-activate-saggy-9c08@gregkh>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2026 19:52:31 +0100
From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@....qualcomm.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>, Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
	Andy Whitcroft <apw@...onical.com>, Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>,
	Dwaipayan Ray <dwaipayanray1@...il.com>,
	Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@...il.com>, linux-spdx@...r.kernel.org,
	workflows@...r.kernel.org, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] LICENSES: Explicitly allow SPDX-FileCopyrightText

On Wed, Jan 07, 2026 at 06:12:47PM +0100, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote:
> Sources already have SPDX-FileCopyrightText (~40 instances) and more
> appear on the mailing list, so document that it is allowed.  On the
> other hand SPDX defines several other tags like SPDX-FileType, so add
> checkpatch rule to narrow desired tags only to two of them - license and
> copyright.  That way no new tags would sneak in to the kernel unnoticed.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@....qualcomm.com>
> 
> ---
> 
> Other way would be to remove SPDX-FileCopyrightText from existing files
> and disallow this, but one way or another we should be explicit about
> it.  Otherwise people will be sending more of these and each maintainer
> would need to make their own call.
> ---
>  Documentation/process/license-rules.rst | 2 ++
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl                   | 9 +++++++++
>  2 files changed, 11 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst b/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
> index 59a7832df7d0..8d7c0214f283 100644
> --- a/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/process/license-rules.rst
> @@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ License identifier syntax
>     '#!PATH_TO_INTERPRETER' in the first line.  For those scripts the SPDX
>     identifier goes into the second line.

As you are adding a copyright identifier, this sentence should probably
be:
	For those scripts, the SPDX license identifier goes into the
	second line.

> +   Identifier line can be followed by another one with SPDX-FileCopyrightText.

How about:

"The license identifier line can then be followed by a
SPDX-FileCopyrightText line if desired."


> +
>  |
>  
>  2. Style:
> diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> index 362a8d1cd327..98261ee97e2b 100755
> --- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> +++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> @@ -3844,6 +3844,15 @@ sub process {
>  			     "Misplaced SPDX-License-Identifier tag - use line $checklicenseline instead\n" . $herecurr);
>  		}
>  
> +# check for unused SPDX file tags

# check for unsupported SPDX file tags

thanks,

greg k-h