LekKit
commented
3 weeks ago We need to actually fix librvvm source license headers to reflect the MPL 2.0 license used for the library to prevent further issues.
This legally requires either the code owners to submit the license header change PR, or at the very least acknowledge the changes being done with their code (Which most people did, but not in a formal and verifiable way).
Proper license header template:
/*
blah-blah.h - Short explanation what this source does
Copyright (C) 2021 MaintainerName <email/github/other means to reach>
MaintainerName <email/github/other means to reach>
ContributorName <email/github/other means to reach>
This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
file, You can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
*/
The only sources that are NOT part of librvvm and are supposed to be GPL 3.0:
src/main.c - RVVM Standalone CLI VM
src/rvvm_user.c - RVVM Linux binary emulator
Sources that are maintained/have code written by @cerg2010cerg2010:
src/devices/ata.c; src/devices/ata.h
src/devices/eth-oc.c; src/devices/eth-oc.h
src/devices/ps2-altera.c; src/devices/ps2-altera.h
src/devices/ps2-keyboard.c
src/devices/ps2-mouse.c
src/devices/tap_linux.c
src/rvjit/rvjit_arm.h
src/rvjit/rvjit_arm64.h
src/fdtlib.c; src/fdtlib.h
src/ringbuf.c; src/ringbuf.h
src/elf_load.c; src/elf_load.h
src/riscv_csr.c; src/riscv_csr.h
Sources that are maintained/have code written by @X547:
src/devices/haiku_window.cpp
src/devices/i2c-hid.c; src/devices/i2c-hid.h
src/devices/hid_mouse.c
src/devices/hid_keyboard.c
Sources that are maintained/have code written by @0xCatPKG:
src/blk_io.c; src/blk_io.h
src/dlib.c; src/dlib.h
src/devices/tap_user.c
src/utils.c; src/utils.h
Sources that are maintained/have code written by @Mr0maks:
src/devices/ns16550a.c; src/devices/ns16550a.h
src/rvjit/rvjit_arm.h
Should we also ping people with few-line fix patches? How should the acknowledgement process go?
Kamillaova
nerodono
OscarL
cerg2010cerg2010
n30f0x
X547
Mr0maks
librvvmshould be MPL 2.0 compatible.Originally, RVVM was simply a standalone emulator which wasn't reusable, but nowadays it's a proper library reusable in other projects. Keeping the GPL license for a library reduces it's usefulness a lot - not many other projects may afford switching to GPL too.
The MPL license is a good middle-ground where RVVM code itself is still not entirely permissive (No closed forks of RVVM itself may exist), however it allows proper dynamic/static linking into other projects without affecting their license as a whole. This license is also widely adopted in the Rust world (Since Rust libraries may only be linked statically).
This decision was done way back in 2022, but the source license headers were not properly updated which led to confusion, and was not done fully in a proper way. We need to actually fix librvvm source license headers to reflect the MPL 2.0 license used for the library to prevent further issues.
This legally requires either the code owners to submit the license header change PR, or at the very least acknowledge the changes being done with their code (Which most people did, but not in a formal and verifiable way).
Standalone RVVM binaries (rvvm-cli and rvvm-user) are still licensed under GPL since they are expected to be directly used by the end user and not reusable by other projects. Realistically, both are simply frontends to
librvvm(rvvm-user has it's own Linux syscall translation layer, but that thing stays under GPL too.)To agree to the relicensing, please reply to this issue with the following verbatim text:
List of required approvals:
Nebulka and iyzsong(宋文武) will be contacted by email.
Thanks to https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/334374! (as an example)