License the project under Apache 2.0#52
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Add top-level LICENSE (Apache License 2.0) and NOTICE. Normalize the 162 existing SPDX headers (145 LGPL-3.0-or-later, 17 MIT — inconsistently self-generated, all copyright 'ASFireWire Project') to Apache-2.0. Add APSL-2.0 attribution to the FWAddress API-compatibility port from IOFireWireFamily, and a License section in README clarifying that the gitignored reference stacks are behavioral references only and never distributed. Files previously carrying an LGPL-3.0-or-later grant require consent from their contributors to relicense; collected in the PR thread before merge.
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I guess because my PR got merged in the meantime, I think I should also state it clearly: I consent to relicensing my contributions under Apache-2. |
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Summary
The repository currently has no LICENSE file, which under default copyright law means "all rights reserved" — forks and users have no legal right to use, modify, or redistribute the code. Meanwhile the source files carry contradictory SPDX headers: 145 files say
LGPL-3.0-or-later, 17 files sayMIT, and ~670 files have no header. All copyright lines say "ASFireWire Project", so these appear self-authored and inconsistently generated rather than imported.This PR proposes formalizing the project under the Apache License 2.0:
LICENSE(verbatim Apache 2.0 text) andNOTICEApache-2.0FWAddressAPI-compatibility port from Apple IOFireWireFamily (ASFWDriver/Async/AsyncTypes.hpp)references/stacks (Linux, Apple, libffado) are read-only behavioral references, never distributed, and that no code is copied from themWhy Apache 2.0
A tree audit (grep for ported/copied/verbatim markers and license identifiers) found nothing that forces copyleft:
FWAddressreproduces an API layout from IOFireWireFamily (APSL-2.0) — interface-level, now attributedCSRResponder.cppports semantics from Linux, not codeApache 2.0 over MIT because of the explicit patent grant (§3), which is meaningful for driver code. LGPL-3.0 (the majority header today) is an awkward fit for a statically linked dext — the library-swap mechanism it's built around doesn't apply.
The 145 files currently marked
LGPL-3.0-or-latercarry an explicit license grant. Changing that grant requires consent from everyone with copyrightable contributions to those files. This PR is a draft until the contributors below have acked (a simple "I consent to relicensing my contributions under Apache-2.0" comment suffices):(Only those with non-trivial changes in the LGPL-marked files strictly need to consent; listing everyone for completeness.)
Consent window: if no objection is raised within 14 days of this PR (2026-07-23), we treat silence from the remaining contributors as no objection and proceed. Their footprint in the relicensed files is small (git log: gly11 11 commits, Brian Hoffman 2, vs. 826 for @mrmidi). If anyone objects later, their contributions will be rewritten or their files reverted to LGPL — no one's grant is changed over their objection.
Notes