RE: [PATCH] Bluetooth: Add SPDX id lines to some source files

[Bird, Tim]

Hey Richard,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Fontana <rfontana@xxxxxxxxxx>
> (cc'ing Jilayne Lovejoy in case she doesn't get these)
> 
> On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 8:14 PM Tim Bird <tim.bird@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > Many bluetooth source files are missing SPDX-License-Identifier
> > lines. Add appropriate IDs to these files, and remove other
> > license lines from the headers.
> 
>  So the subset of patches I've quoted below, most but not all of which
> seem to be associated with Maxim Krasnyansky <maxk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, all
> feature warranty disclaimer language that includes a disclaimer of
> warranty of "NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS" (and furthermore
> states "ALL LIABILITY, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY
> PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS, RELATING TO USE OF
> THIS SOFTWARE IS DISCLAIMED."). The GPLv2 warranty disclaimer
> language, and the abbreviated warranty disclaimer language in the
> FSF/GPLv2 "standard" notice often seen in kernel source files, itself
> does not refer to the warranty of noninfringement (disclaimers of
> which I believe did not become common in software industry licenses
> until well after the advent of GPLv2 and its predecessors).

Good catch.  I didn't notice the warranty disclaimer difference (which
is a bit embarrassing on my part).

I'll redo this patch, leaving this different warranty language intact.

> 
> Several years ago, when this effort to replace bespoke license notices
> with SPDX-License-Identifier strings got started, an issue was raised
> around what to do about license notices that included disclaimers of
> warranties going beyond what's recited in GPLv2, or those GPLv2
> standard notices. There's an argument that it would be inappropriate,
> and contrary to the licensor intent, to delete them, as you propose to
> do here (without permission from the authors/copyright owners).

I agree with this stance (that it's inappropriate to remove them)
In the next version of this patch I'll leave these "extended" disclaimers.

> I seem
> to remember Jilayne making an effort to gather views from lawyers in
> the field about this topic but I'm not sure what if anything became of
> that.

It would be nice to get a legal opinion.  There are two different
issues, IMHO.

Issue 1: Is it legitimate to apply an additional level of legal disclaimer to the GPL 2.0
license itself? The language in section 1 of GPL v2 says "you may copy and distribute...[stuff]..
provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright
notice and disclaimer of warranty.  It say "an appropriate ... disclaimer of warranty". *"an"*
It doesn't say "the specific disclaimer of warranty contained herein" or anything else like that.
But 2b GPL v2 also does say "You must cause any work ... [derived from the Program]
.. to be licensed as a whole at no charge ... under the terms of this License."  And sections
11 and 12 contain "the official" disclaimer of warranty for GPL v2.
(And actually, I think the official disclaimer wording: "WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO" is rather all-encompassing,
and legally also covers the extra issues explicitly mentioned in these Bluetooth header warranty disclaimers).

Unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to assume that It's legally OK to apply/retain
another level of warranty disclaimer, without creating a legal contradiction here.

If there *is* a contradiction by these extra disclaimers, then likely we would have to get
Qualcomm legal to agree to some resolution.  A lot of this code was contributed in 2001
and 2002, so at least the patent concerns (for those parts) may be mostly eliminated by now.

Issue 2: if there is no legal contradiction, is it satisfactory to just leave the "extra" warranty
disclaimer, along with the SPDX-License-Identifier, without further explanatory text?

I believe so.  But still -  I may put a little notice on the warranty disclaimer left in these files
to explain that there are now multiple disclaimers in force (the GPL 2.0 one, and this one).
I actually think these two disclaimers are legally equivalent, but obviously some lawyers
disagree, or they wouldn't have written a new disclaimer and put it on here.

Do you have any opinion on adding a little note about this in these files (to go along
with the leftover disclaimers)?

> It's fairly likely that such language in other source files has
> just gotten deleted since then without anyone noticing the issue.

Yeah, probably.

I'll add this to my list of things to double-check to avoid any
contribution by me to this issue in the future.

Thanks!
 -- Tim


> > diff --git a/include/net/bluetooth/bluetooth.h b/include/net/bluetooth/bluetooth.h
> > index 3faea66b1979..e921ade2f61b 100644
> > --- a/include/net/bluetooth/bluetooth.h
> > +++ b/include/net/bluetooth/bluetooth.h
> > @@ -1,26 +1,10 @@
> > +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
> >  /*
> >     BlueZ - Bluetooth protocol stack for Linux
> >     Copyright (C) 2000-2001 Qualcomm Incorporated
> >     Copyright 2023 NXP
> >
> >     Written 2000,2001 by Maxim Krasnyansky <maxk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > -
> > -   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
> > -   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
> > -   published by the Free Software Foundation;
> > -
> > -   THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
> > -   OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
> > -   FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.
> > -   IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER(S) AND AUTHOR(S) BE LIABLE FOR ANY
> > -   CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES
> > -   WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
> > -   ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
> > -   OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
> > -
> > -   ALL LIABILITY, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENTS,
> > -   COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS, RELATING TO USE OF THIS
> > -   SOFTWARE IS DISCLAIMED.
> >  */
> >
> >  #ifndef __BLUETOOTH_H
...