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

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <dc44dd2c6efb16ace506085922707c70126117e7.camel@perches.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:38:41 -0800
From: Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>
To: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Cc: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@....qualcomm.com>, Thomas
 Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>, Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, Andy
 Whitcroft <apw@...onical.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, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] LICENSES: Explicitly allow SPDX-FileCopyrightText

On Wed, 2026-01-07 at 20:35 +0100, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 07, 2026 at 10:40:11AM -0800, Joe Perches wrote:
> > On Wed, 2026-01-07 at 18:12 +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.
> > 
> > I find no value in this tag.  I think it should be discouraged.
> > 
> > How is it different or more useful than a typical Copyright or © symbol ?
> 
> It's easier to parse automatically and put into other places (like a
> software bill of materials).
> 
> I don't like it all that much either, as really, it doesn't mean much
> (go talk to a lawyer for details), but it's already in our tree so we
> might as well document it...

Document it doesn't mean encourage it.