Possible non-free files in Linux-libre

[Alexandre Oliva]

Hello, Aurelien,

On Nov  5, 2015, aurelien <aurelien at hackers.camp> wrote:

> As I have reported in the #linux-libre channel, it seems that there is
> some possible non-free files in linux-libre

> linux-4.3/Documentation/trace/postprocess/*.pl files are (c) to IBM and
> does not contain explicit Free Software licenses.

Thanks for your report.

I checked the git logs for those files, and they are Signed-off-by: the
author, which AFAICT means the author grants the project permission to
distribute the files without an explicit license under the project's
license.  So it would seem like they're available under GPLv2.  Do you
have any reason to believe otherwise, based on your understanding of the
"Developer's Certificate of Origin" implied by Signed-off-by?  See
Documentation/SubmittingPatches, in case you're not familiar with it.

Sure it would be nicer if there was an explicit license, but I wouldn't
worry too much about it in the specific case of Linux; that's one of the
points behind the Signed-off-by markers.

That said, if you'd contact the author of those files and get him to be
more explicit about the license, that would be appreciated.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighter    http://FSFLA.org/~lxoliva/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Gandhi
Be Free! -- http://FSFLA.org/   FSF Latin America board member
Free Software Evangelist|Red Hat Brasil GNU Toolchain Engineer