Hi David,

On 14.01.21 19:47, David Sterba wrote:

On Thu, Dec 10, 2020 at 01:03:04PM +0100, Stefano Babic wrote:

quoted

I read this, thanks.

I was quite confused about the license for libbtrfsutil due to both
"COPYING" and "COPYING.LESSER" in the library path. COPYING reports
GPLv3. But headers in file set LGPLv3, sure, and btrfs.h is GPLv2.

quoted

I'd like to understand what's the problem with LGPLv3 before we'd
consider switching to LGPLv2, which I'd rather not do.

Please forgive me ig I am not correct because I am just a developer and
not a lawyer.

The question rised already when QT switched from LGPv2 to LGPLv3, and
after the switch what companies should do to be license compliant. Based
on information given by qt.io and from lawyers (I find again at least
this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSYDWnsfWUk), it is possible
to link even close source SW to libraries, but to avoid the known
"tivoization", the manufacturer or user of a library must provide
instruction to replace the running code. This is an issue for embedded
devices, specially in case the device is closed with keys by the
manufacturer to avoid attacks or replacement with malware - for example,
medical devices. This means that such a keys to be licence compliant
(anyone please correct me if I am wrong) must be provided, making the
keys itself without sense. The issue does not happen with LGPv2.1, and
this is the reason why many manufacturers are strictly checking to not
have (L)GPLv3 code on their device.

I haven't forgotten about this, but haven't researched that enough to
make the decision.

;-)

I need to do the 5.10 release and that will be
without change to the license.

Of course.

There are no new changes to libbtrfsutil
so the number of people who'd need to agree with the potential
relicensing remains the same.

That's fine.

In my understanding, current licensing for btrf-progs could be 
problematic. It is declared GPLv2 but it links libbtrfutils, and GPLv2 
is not compatible according to FSF to (L)GPLv3. If libbtrfsutil becomes 
LGPLv2.1, all conflicts are resolved ;-).

Best regards,
Stefano


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