Guidelines and HOWTOs/Relicensing/KDE Relicensing

From KDE Community Wiki

KDE GNU FDL Relicensing effort

KDE is moving new documentation to CC-BY-SA 4.0 license starting July 2017.

So that existing documentation under the GNU FDL works can continue to be mixed in with it we would like to ask for permission from rights holders to relicence it as CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Add yourself and anyone you can ask to the relicense script https://invent.kde.org/sdk/kde-dev-scripts/-/blob/master/relicensecheck.pl

KDE GPL v2.0 Relicensing effort

Why does it matter?

A couple of KDE software dependent projects or even libraries have moved or are going to move to GPLv3.

Unfortunately, GPL v3 is incompatible with GPL v2. This means that it is not possible to create a project linking GPL v2 and v3 code together. There is no problem for projects which are licensed GPLv2+ (version 2 or above).

A few pieces of KDE software are currently licensed as GPLv2 only. So far we have no reason to believe that this was something other than an oversight. However, we still need to validate with the individual copyright holders that a relicense to GPLv2+ or GPLv2+v3 is okay with them.

Therefore, in an effort we're trying to identify the contributors that have contributed under the terms of GPLv2 and where the "+" part was not explicitly mentioned. If we know that all contributors agreed to a relicense, we can go ahead and flip the license of the individual source file.

How can I help?

By identifying a contributor who as contributed under the terms of GPLv2 (use relicensecheck.pl on the file in question), and contacting him if he wasn't already contacted. Ask him the following questions:

  • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under "GPLv2" to "GPLv2 or later"?
  • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under "GPLv2" to "GPLv2 or GPLv3" ?
  • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under "LGPLv2" to "LGPLv2 or later"?
  • Are you okay with relicensing your contributions done under "LGPLv2" to "LGPLv2 or LGPLv3"?
  • Are you okay with the KDE e.V. deciding on a future licensing change to your code, should that be necessary?

What's next?

  1. you checkout the kde-dev-scripts repository from https://invent.kde.org/sdk/kde-dev-scripts/-/blob/master/relicensecheck.pl
  2. you run relicensecheck.pl on the file or directory in question
  3. you interpret the result. check each commit that is being complained about carefully. Try to get the copyright's holder's permission. If you get it, update the whitelist in the script.
  4. review the list of declared copyright holders in the file.
  5. if you're all clear, change the license to the most liberal license possible. Document your change verbosely in the commit log.

Current Reply List

  • The table below is generated from the script kde-dev-scripts/relicensecheck.pl, and exists only for documentation purpose. Ideally, just modify that script. Otherwise, get someone to modify the script for you.
  • The empty cells mean we don't know, we asked before this option was available.
Name GPLv2->GPLv2+ LGPLv2 -> LGPLv2+ GPLv2 -> GPLv2+v3 LGPLv2 -> LGPLv2+LGPLv3 KDE e.V. decides FDL -> CC-BY-SA 4.0
Aaron J. Seigo YES YES YES YES YES
Adam Treat YES YES YES YES YES
Adriaan de Groot NO NO YES YES
Albert Astals Cid YES YES YES YES YES
Aleix Pol Gonzalez YES YES YES YES YES
Aleksander Demko YES YES YES YES YES
Alessandro Diaferia YES YES YES YES YES
Alexander Dymo YES YES YES YES
Alexander Kellett YES YES YES YES YES
Àlex Fiestas YES YES YES YES YES
Alexis Ménard YES YES YES YES
Alex Merry YES YES YES YES YES
Alex Turbov YES YES YES YES YES
Alex Zepeda YES YES YES YES YES
Allan Sandfeld Jensen YES YES YES YES NO
Allen Winter YES YES YES YES
Anders Lund YES YES YES YES YES
Andi Fischer YES YES YES YES YES
Andras Mantia NO NO YES YES YES
Andrea Scarpino YES YES YES YES YES
Andreas Cord-Landwehr YES YES YES YES YES
Andreas Hartmetz YES YES YES YES
Andreas Pakulat YES YES YES YES
Andreas Silberstorff YES YES YES YES
André Wöbbeking YES YES YES YES YES
Andy Fawcett YES YES YES YES YES
Andy Goossens YES YES YES YES
Anne-Marie Mahfouf YES YES YES YES
Anthony Bryant YES YES YES YES YES
Antonio Larrosa Jimenez YES YES YES YES YES
Arend van Beelen jr. YES YES YES YES
Arnold Dumas YES YES YES YES YES
Arto Hytönen YES YES YES YES YES
Aurélien Gâteau YES YES YES YES YES
Benjamin K. Stuhl YES YES YES YES YES
Benjamin Meyer YES YES YES YES
Benjamin Port YES YES YES YES YES
Benoît Jacob YES YES YES YES
Bernhard Beschow YES YES YES YES YES
Bertjan Broeksema YES YES YES YES
Bhushan Shah YES YES YES YES YES
Boris Egorov YES YES YES YES YES
Boudewijn Rempt YES YES YES YES
Boudhayan Gupta YES YES NO NO YES
Brad Hards YES YES YES YES YES
Bram Schoenmakers YES YES YES YES YES
Bruno Virlet YES YES YES YES
Burkhard Lück YES YES YES YES YES
Caleb Tennis YES YES YES YES YES
Camilla Boemann YES YES YES YES
Carsten Niehaus YES YES YES YES
Carsten Pfeiffer YES YES YES YES
Cédric Borgese YES YES YES YES
Chani Armitage YES YES YES YES YES
Chao Feng YES YES YES YES YES
Charles Connell YES YES YES YES
Charles Samuels YES YES YES YES
Chris Howells YES YES YES YES
Chris Lee YES YES YES YES YES
Chris Schlaeger NO NO YES YES
Christian Ehrlicher YES YES YES YES YES
Christian Mollekopf YES YES YES YES YES
Christoph Cullmann YES YES YES YES YES
Christophe Giboudeaux YES YES YES YES YES
Christopher TenHarmsel YES YES YES YES YES
Christoph Feck YES YES YES YES YES
Chusslove Illich YES YES YES YES YES
Cies Breijs YES YES YES YES
Cornelius Schumacher YES YES YES YES YES
Craig Drummond YES YES YES YES YES
Dániel Grósz YES YES YES YES YES
Daniel Laidig YES YES YES YES
Daniel Molkentin YES YES YES YES YES
Daniel Teske NO NO YES YES NO
Daniel Vrátil YES YES YES YES YES
Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen YES YES YES YES YES
Danny Allen YES YES YES YES YES
David Capel YES YES YES YES YES
David Faure YES YES YES YES YES
David Herberth YES YES YES YES YES
David Jarvie YES YES YES YES NO
David Narváez YES YES YES YES YES
David Stephen Hubner YES YES YES YES YES
Dawit Alemayehu NO NO YES YES YES
Denis Kuplyakov YES YES YES YES YES
Denis Perchine II YES YES YES YES YES
Denis Perchine YES YES YES YES YES
Dirk Mueller YES YES YES YES NO
Dmitry Suzdalev YES YES YES YES
Dominik Haumann YES YES YES YES YES
Dominique Devriese YES YES YES YES YES
Don Sanders YES YES YES YES YES
Duncan Mac-Vicar Prett YES YES YES YES
Edwin Schepers YES YES YES YES NO
Elias Probst YES YES YES YES YES
Elvis Angelaccio YES YES YES YES YES
Enrico Ros YES YES YES YES YES
Enrique Matías Sánchez YES YES YES YES
Éric Bischoff YES YES YES YES YES
Eric Pignet YES YES YES YES YES
Erlend Hamberg YES YES YES YES YES
Espen Sand YES YES YES YES
Eva Brucherseifer YES YES YES YES NO
Fabian Kosmale YES YES YES YES YES
Fabio Locati YES YES YES YES YES
Fela Winkelmolen YES YES YES YES
Flavio Castelli YES YES YES YES
Frank Osterfeld YES YES YES YES
Fred Emmott YES YES YES YES
Frederik Gladhorn YES YES YES YES
Frederik Schwarzer YES YES YES YES YES
Fredrik Höglund NO NO YES YES
Frerich Raabe YES YES YES YES YES
Friedrich W. H. Kossebau YES YES YES YES YES
Gaël de Chalendar YES YES YES YES
Gary Cramblitt YES YES YES YES NO
George Staikos YES YES YES YES YES
Gerald Senarclens de Grancy YES YES YES YES NO
Gioele Barabucci YES YES YES YES YES
Giorgos Kylafas YES YES YES YES YES
Gregg Edghill YES YES YES YES
Greg Martyn YES YES YES YES YES
Gregor Mi YES YES YES YES YES
Guy Maurel YES YES YES YES YES
Hamish Rodda YES YES YES YES
Hannah von Reth YES YES YES YES YES
Hans Petter Bieker YES YES YES YES YES
Harald Fernengel YES YES YES YES
Heiko Becker YES YES YES YES NO
Heiko Schaefer NO NO YES NO
Helge Deller YES YES YES YES NO
Helio Chissini de Castro YES YES YES YES
Hiếu Hoàng YES YES YES YES YES
Holger Freyther YES YES YES YES YES
Holger Schröder YES YES YES YES YES
Hrvoje Senjan YES YES YES YES YES
Ian Ventura-Whiting YES YES YES YES YES
Inge Wallin YES YES YES YES
Ingo Klöcker YES YES YES YES NO
Isaac Clerencia YES YES YES YES
İsmail Dönmez YES YES YES YES
Ismail Onur Filiz YES YES YES YES
Ivan Čukić YES YES YES YES YES
Ivan Komissarov YES YES YES YES YES
Jaime Torres Amate YES YES YES YES YES
Jaison Lee YES YES YES YES YES
Jan Grulich YES YES YES YES YES
Jarosław Staniek YES YES YES YES YES
Jason Harris YES YES YES YES YES
Jean-Baptiste Mardelle YES YES YES YES YES
Jean-Baptiste Rouault YES YES YES YES YES
Jeff Shipley YES YES YES YES
Jekyll Wu YES YES YES YES YES
Jens Herden YES YES YES YES
Jeremy Whiting YES YES YES YES YES
Jesper Pedersen YES YES YES YES YES
John Layt YES YES YES YES
John Schroeder YES YES YES YES YES
John Tapsell YES YES YES YES YES
Jonathan Riddell YES YES YES YES YES YES
Jörg Ehrichs YES YES YES YES YES
José Pablo Ezequiel Fernández YES YES YES YES YES
Joseph Wenninger YES YES YES YES YES
Jos van den Oever YES YES YES YES YES
Kai Uwe Broulik YES YES YES YES YES
Kåre Särs NO NO YES YES YES
Karl Ove Hufthammer YES YES YES YES YES
Karl Robillard YES YES YES YES NO
Kevin Funk YES YES YES YES YES
Kevin Krammer YES YES YES YES
Kevin Ottens YES YES YES YES YES
Kurt Granroth YES YES YES YES YES
Kurt Hindenburg YES YES YES YES YES
Lamarque Souza YES YES YES YES YES
Lasse Liehu YES YES YES YES YES
Laurent Montel YES YES YES YES YES
Leon Handreke YES YES YES YES NO
Leo Savernik YES YES YES YES YES
Luboš Luňák YES YES YES YES
Luca Beltrame YES YES YES YES YES
Luigi Toscano YES YES YES YES YES
Luka Renko YES YES YES YES
Maciej Mrozowski YES YES YES YES YES
Malcolm Hunter YES YES YES YES
Marc Britton YES YES YES YES YES
Marc Mutz YES YES NO NO
Marcus Camen YES YES YES YES
Marcus Meissner YES YES YES YES
Mario Bensi YES YES YES YES YES
Mario Fux YES YES YES YES YES
Marius Orcsik YES YES YES YES YES
Martin Aumüller YES YES YES YES
Martin Flöser YES YES YES YES YES
Martin Jones YES YES YES YES YES
Martin Koller YES YES YES YES YES
Martin Tobias Holmedahl Sandsmark YES YES YES YES YES
Mathias Soeken YES YES YES YES
Matias Valdenegro Toro YES YES YES YES
Matt Broadstone NO NO YES YES YES
Matthew Woehlke NO NO YES YES
Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel YES YES YES YES YES
Matthias Kretz NO NO YES YES
Matt Rogers YES YES YES YES
Matt Williams YES YES YES YES YES
Mauricio Piacentini YES YES YES YES
Melchior Franz YES YES YES YES
Michael David Howell YES YES YES YES YES
Michael Haeckel YES YES YES YES NO
Michaël Larouche YES YES YES YES
Michael Palimaka YES YES YES YES YES
Michael Pyne YES YES YES YES YES
Michael Reiher NO NO YES YES YES
Michal Humpula YES YES YES YES YES
Michal Rudolf YES YES YES YES
Michel Ludwig YES YES YES YES NO
Mickael Marchand YES YES YES YES
Milian Wolff YES YES YES YES YES
Miquel Sabaté Solà YES YES YES YES YES
Mirko Boehm YES YES YES YES YES
Mirko Stocker YES YES YES YES
Nadeem Hasan YES YES YES YES NO
Nick Shaforostoff YES YES YES YES
Nicolás Alvarez YES YES YES YES YES
Nicolas Roffet YES YES YES YES
Niels Slot YES YES YES YES
Nikita Skovoroda YES YES YES YES YES
Niko Sams YES YES YES YES NO
Olav Vitters YES YES YES YES YES
Oliver Kellogg YES YES YES YES
Olivier Goffart YES YES YES YES YES
Oswald Buddenhagen YES YES NO NO
Otto Bruggeman YES YES YES YES YES
Pablo de Vicente YES YES YES YES
Pablo Pita Leira YES YES YES YES
Parker Coates YES YES YES YES YES
Pascal Létourneau YES YES YES YES YES
Pau Garcia i Quiles YES YES YES YES YES
Paul Giannaros NO NO YES YES NO
Peifeng Yu YES YES YES YES NO
Percy Leonhardt YES YES YES YES YES
Peter Hedlund YES YES YES YES
Peter Penz YES YES YES YES
Peter Putzer YES YES YES YES
Petri Damstén YES YES YES YES NO
Pierre Stirnweiss YES YES YES YES
Pino Toscano YES YES YES YES YES
Piotr Szymanski YES YES YES YES
Rafael Fernández López YES YES YES YES YES
Ragnar Thomsen YES YES YES YES YES
Ralf Jung YES YES YES YES YES
Raphael Kubo da Costa YES YES YES YES YES
Reinhold Kainhofer YES YES YES YES YES
Richard Dale YES YES YES YES YES
Richard Michael Hartmann YES YES YES YES NO
Richard Moore NO NO YES YES YES
Richard Smith YES YES YES YES YES
Riyad Preukschas YES YES YES YES YES
Robert Gogolok YES YES YES YES
Robert Knight YES YES YES YES YES
Roberto Alsina YES YES YES YES YES
Roberto Raggi YES YES YES YES
Rohan McGovern YES YES YES YES
Rolf Eike Beer YES YES YES YES NO
Roman Jarosz YES YES YES YES
Romário Rios YES YES YES YES YES
Ruediger Gad YES YES YES YES YES
Sandro Knauß YES YES YES YES NO
Sascha Peilicke YES YES YES YES NO
Scott Wheeler YES YES YES YES NO
Sebastian Kügler YES YES YES YES YES
Sebastian Pipping YES YES YES YES NO
Sebastian Sauer YES YES YES YES
Sebastian Trueg YES YES YES YES
Sergio Martins YES YES YES YES YES
Simon Hausmann YES YES YES YES YES
Simon Huerlimann YES YES YES YES YES
Simon Schmeisser YES YES YES YES YES
Sirtaj Singh Kang YES YES YES YES NO
Stefan Asserhäll YES YES YES YES YES
Stefan Majewsky YES YES YES YES YES
Stephan Binner NO NO YES YES
Stephan Johach YES YES YES YES
Stephan Kulow YES YES YES YES
Stephen Kelly YES YES YES YES YES
Sune Vuorela YES YES YES YES YES
Szombathelyi György YES YES YES YES
Thiago Macieira YES YES YES YES YES
Thomas Braxton YES YES YES YES
Thomas Capricelli YES YES YES YES
Thomas Friedrichsmeier YES YES YES YES NO
Thomas Häber YES YES YES YES YES
Thomas McGuire YES YES YES YES YES
Thomas Zander YES YES YES YES
Thorben Kröger YES YES YES YES
Thorsten Roeder YES YES YES YES
Thorsten Zachmann YES YES YES YES
Till Adam YES YES YES YES
Tim Beaulen YES YES YES YES YES
Tim Jansen YES YES YES YES YES
Tobias Koenig YES YES YES YES
Tom Albers YES YES YES YES
Tomas Mecir YES YES YES YES YES
Toni Asensi Esteve YES YES YES YES YES
Torgny Nyblom YES YES YES YES YES
Torsten Rahn NO NO YES YES YES
Toshitaka Fujioka YES YES YES YES YES
Unai Garro YES YES YES YES YES
Urs Wolfer YES YES YES YES YES
Valentin Rusu YES YES YES YES YES
Vishesh Handa YES YES YES YES YES
Vlad Codrea YES YES YES YES NO
Volker Krause YES YES YES YES YES
Waldo Bastian NO NO YES YES YES
Wilco Greven YES YES YES YES
Will Stephenson YES YES YES YES YES
Willy De la Court YES YES YES YES YES
Wladimir Palant YES YES YES YES YES
Zack Rusin YES YES YES YES YES

Current TODO List

  • KDAB
  • Alex Zepeda [mail sent by David Faure]
  • Thomas Leitner
  • Lars Knoll
  • Maksim Orlovich
  • Karol Szwed

Relicensing progress

files_KDE1.png