Re: What license should be used for package that contains "Redistributable, no modification permitted" binaries?

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On Fri, Dec 2, 2022 at 5:45 AM Miro Hrončok <mhroncok@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 02. 12. 22 8:23, Sun, Yunying wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm packaging linux-sgx SDK for Fedora, with review request ticket:
> >
> > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2085444
> > <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2085444>
> >
> > linux-sgx has some Intel signed binaries included such as
> > libsgx_{qve,tdqe,id_enclave,pce,qe3,le,qe,pve}.signed.so, as stated in License.txt:
> >
> > https://github.com/intel/linux-sgx/blob/master/License.txt
> > <https://github.com/intel/linux-sgx/blob/master/License.txt>
> >
> > According to
> > https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:SoftwareTypes#Binary_Firmware
> > <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:SoftwareTypes#Binary_Firmware>, it has:
> >
> > /The License tag for any firmware that disallows modification must be set to:
> > "Redistributable, no modification permitted"/
> >
> > So I added "Redistributable, no modification permitted" to the “License:” in
> > spec file:
> >
> > https://yunyings.fedorapeople.org/sgxsdk.spec
> > <https://yunyings.fedorapeople.org/sgxsdk.spec>
> >
> > In recent review comment, Miro suggested that this "Redistributable, no
> > modification permitted" is not appropriate for license name.
> >
> > But going through all licenses on
> > https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/legal/allowed-licenses/
> > <https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/legal/allowed-licenses/>, I can’t find
> > the right license for these Intel signed binaries.
> >
> > Could you point me to the right license, or if none exists for this case, guide
> > me how to proceed? Thank you.
>
> I think that each such license now needs to be reviewed separately. See
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/SPDX_Licenses_Phase_1#I_maintain_a_firmware_package,_what_do_I_use_for_the_SPDX_expression?

Yes, but this is not actually new. In theory all firmware licenses
needed to be reviewed under the Callaway system for conformance to
Fedora licensing standards (for firmware), i.e. at least since ~2010
or so there was not a policy that "all firmware licenses are
inherently okay" and I seem to remember at least one case where a
firmware package was excluded from Fedora for licensing reasons.
What's new now is that the License: field for the RPM can't simply say
"Redistributable, no modification permitted" if only because that is
not an SPDX-conformant expression. This is I think the first firmware
license issue we've dealt with since the initiation of the New Era.

> Legal folks, note that this is not a firmware per se, but FESCo approved to
> treat it as such, pending legal review, in https://pagure.io/fesco/issue/2153
>
> """
> FESCo permits the use of pre-signed Intel SGX components under the firmware
> clause of the Licensing Guidelines, provided that Fedora Legal concurs.
> """

I think there may some confusion about the license in the Pagure
ticket. The prebuilt Intel binaries are not under the BSD license, but
under the following derivative of the 3-clause BSD license:

<quote>
Copyright (c) Intel Corporation.

Redistribution.  Redistribution and use in binary form, without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

* Redistributions must reproduce the above copyright notice and the
  following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials
  provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of Intel Corporation nor the names of its suppliers
  may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
  without specific prior written permission.
* No reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this software
  is permitted.

Limited patent license.  Intel Corporation grants a world-wide,
royalty-free, non-exclusive license under patents it now or hereafter
owns or controls to make, have made, use, import, offer to sell and
sell ("Utilize") this software, but solely to the extent that any
such patent is necessary to Utilize the software alone, or in
combination with an operating system licensed under an approved Open
Source license as listed by the Open Source Initiative at
http://opensource.org/licenses.  The patent license shall not apply to
any other combinations which include this software.  No hardware per
se is licensed hereunder.

DISCLAIMER.  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS
OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE
USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
</quote>

What's novel here, as far as I know, is the "limited patent license".
Though it would be useful to know if Fedora currently ships any
firmware under an Intel (or other) license with a similar clause,
something I don't know offhand -- one of the benefits of carefully
recording approval of individual firmware licenses is that in the
future this will be easier to look up). While the limited patent
license may be okay, it doesn't fall within the current definition of
acceptable firmware license conditions so we'd have to revise the
corresponding documentation and it requires some deliberation. Anyway,
the Intel folks should submit an issue to
https://gitlab.com/fedora/legal/fedora-license-data to have this
license reviewed.

Richard
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