Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2] doc: define qualification criteria for external library

[Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>]

On Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 09:27:02AM +0100, Morten Brørup wrote:
> > From: Jerin Jacob [mailto:jerinjacobk@gmail.com]
> > Sent: Friday, 17 November 2023 05.34
> > 
> > On Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 11:10 AM <jerinj@marvell.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > From: Jerin Jacob <jerinj@marvell.com>
> > >
> > > Define qualification criteria for external library
> > > based on a techboard meeting minutes [1] and past
> > > learnings from mailing list discussion.
> > >
> > > [1]
> > > http://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/2019-June/135847.html
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Jerin Jacob <jerinj@marvell.com>
> > 
> > Ping for review and/or merge.
> > 
> > 
> > > ---
> > > v2:
> > > - Added "Meson build integration" and "Code readability" sections.
> > >
> > >  doc/guides/contributing/index.rst             |  1 +
> > >  .../contributing/library_dependency.rst       | 23
> > +++++++++++++++++++
> > >  2 files changed, 24 insertions(+)
> > >  create mode 100644 doc/guides/contributing/library_dependency.rst
> > >
> > > diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/index.rst
> > b/doc/guides/contributing/index.rst
> > > index dcb9b1fbf0..e5a8c2b0a3 100644
> > > --- a/doc/guides/contributing/index.rst
> > > +++ b/doc/guides/contributing/index.rst
> > > @@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Contributor's Guidelines
> > >      documentation
> > >      unit_test
> > >      new_library
> > > +    library_dependency
> > >      patches
> > >      vulnerability
> > >      stable
> > > diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/library_dependency.rst
> > b/doc/guides/contributing/library_dependency.rst
> > > new file mode 100644
> > > index 0000000000..687a3b6cef
> > > --- /dev/null
> > > +++ b/doc/guides/contributing/library_dependency.rst
> > > @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
> > > +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
> > > +   Copyright(c) 2023 Marvell.
> > > +
> > > +Library dependency
> > > +==================
> > > +
> > > +This document defines the qualification criteria for external
> > libraries that may be
> > > +used as dependencies in DPDK drivers or libraries.
> > > +
> > > +- **Free availability**: The library must be freely available to
> > build in either source or binary
> > > +  form, with a preference for source form.
> 
> Suggest adding:
> 
> - **Free use and distribution license**: The library must be freely available to use and distribute without any attached conditions.
> 
> We must require a BSD-like license, to ensure that DPDK as a whole (including 3rd party libraries) remains BSD licensed, and can be used in commercial (closed source) applications.
> 
I think the situation is a bit more complex. Firstly, we need to ensure
that there are no license incompatibilities. Beyond that though, the
importance of the library will depend on how strict we are going to be
about open-source licensing etc.

For example, for a particular driver - nic, crypto, whatever - we have in
the past allowed linking against non-opensource libraries in order to build
that component. That (thankfully) has not caused us any serious issues to
date, and I don't think we should change things by completely disallowing
it in future.

On the other hand, a library that becomes key for building more than just a
driver or rarely used library, e.g. one that adds key functionality to EAL,
would be held to a much higher standard. In that case we likely would look
for an open-source, appropriately licensed, version.

/Bruce