On 05/14/2014 07:36 PM, Peter Gavin wrote:
> On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 4:14 AM, Olof Kindgren <[email protected]>wrote:
> 
>>> I second that, having a more permissive license on that file would
>>> make a lot more sense.
>>> You need that or a similar file in basically any software project
>>> using OR1K, so all a too restrictive license do is prevent people from
>>> using openrisc.
>>> Unfortunately, that file has been composed by a large number of people
>>> over the year, so I don't think we can change the license of _that_
>>> file without their permission.
>>> Tracking people down just to get a non-gpl license on that file seems
>>> like a lot of trouble though.
>>> That's why I suggested on IRC to make a "cleanroom" version of it by
>>> generating a new file from e.g.
>>> https://github.com/openrisc/mor1kx/blob/master/rtl/verilog/mor1kx-sprs.v
>>
> 
> Ok, that's a good idea.  I'll drop the copy I have and start from scratch.
>  But if I generate it with a script that reads that file, the result will
> also be OHDL, right?  Is that permissive enough?

A "cleanroom" implementation really needs to be done by someone who
hasn't looked at spr-defs.h... ideally, ever, but at least in a _very_
long time.  I'm pretty sure Peter is disqualified from doing this.

That said, I think you're making a mountain of a molehill here.  The
license on that file is totally moot since using #defines from a header
file does not count as a derived work.  If you don't believe me, here
are the prophet's own words:

http://lkml.iu.edu//hypermail/linux/kernel/0301.1/0362.html

Though I can't imagine hardly anybody cares about their copyright on a
file that contains nothing but #defines, let's nonetheless say that's
the case and keep the copyright(s) on it... BUT, just drop the license
completely and put the file into the public domain because the license
as-is is completely meaningless.

...and how different do we think this file is going to be after it has
been regenerated, anyway...?

/Jonas

PS: Linux uses this file, too... noticed that you missed that in the
earlier rundown of users.
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