[bitbake-devel] [PATCH 4/6] bitbake: Drop duplicate license boilerplace text

[Richard Purdie]

On Wed, 2019-05-01 at 08:44 -0500, Mark Hatle wrote:
> On 5/1/19 6:18 AM, Richard Purdie wrote:
> > With the introduction of SPDX-License-Identifier headers, we don't
> > need a ton
> > of header boilerplate in every file. Simplify the files and rely on
> > the top
> > level for the full licence text.
> 
> I've actually been told the opposite by people.  That you still need
> the boilerplate text for various jurisdiction, as the SPDX-License-
> Identifier may not meet regional copyright/license requirements.

Its good enough for u-boot, its also good enough for SPDX (e.g. 
https://spdx.org/sites/cpstandard/files/pages/files/using_spdx_license_list_short_identifiers.pdf
).

Can you point at a jurisdiction where its a problem?

We have the top level LICENSE* files and they explicitly reference the
identifier. The files are a collective, with modern source control and
release tarballs or package management they work as a unit.

The copyright situation is unchanged as the copyright remains stated in
each file.

I think the benefits in cleaning this up outweigh potential risk,
particularly if we move as a wider community to establish this as the
standard (and it does make sense to me to do and support that).

Cheers,

Richard