[Buildroot] [PATCH 3/5] toolchain-external-linaro*: Add support for license file description

[Kory Maincent]

On Mon, 2 Jun 2025 16:49:17 +0200
Kory Maincent <kory.maincent at bootlin.com> wrote:

> Le Wed, 28 May 2025 18:46:17 +0200,
> Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni at bootlin.com> a écrit :
> 
> > On Wed, 28 May 2025 16:58:00 +0200
> > Kory Maincent <kory.maincent at bootlin.com> wrote:  
> 
> ...
>  
> > > 231a4ff2f3dc0f01091f3ca0720dbcf1374441a5c9fc82a4903d8b07e85dd8fa
> > > share/info/mpc.info +sha256
> > > 9d125638fe0cb17b98434af9ed52630fd443653d87a88d1e5be42c92abca355f
> > > share/info/mpfr.info +sha256
> > > 83a110dcc363139c652eef0a6d8061e91df3d0e56e3cb46b172ea6c61638364e
> > > share/info/stabs.info    
> > 
> > I guess those info files are the full documentation of gdb, gcc, as,
> > etc. ? They will change very often, completely unrelated to the license
> > changes, no?  
> 
> Maybe but these are the only file related to licenses I have found on these
> toolchains.

Which other License files should I use?
 
> > > +TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_LINARO_AARCH64_BE_LICENSE = multiple    
> > 
> > I'm wondering if stating "multiple" really helps. Shouldn't we actually
> > list the licenses?
> 
> Your call, if so I will do the same for all external toolchains.

Any opinion on this?
 
> > The concern I have is that a toolchain-external package is really just
> > a target package, so we can't distinguish easily what goes on the
> > target vs. what stays on the host and that's quite important
> > license-wise. This is BTW why we introduced the gcc-runtime package
> > when Buildroot is building the toolchain, it allows to clarify the
> > licensing of host packages (host-gcc, host-binutils, host-gdb) vs. the
> > licensing of what goes into the target (gcc-runtime).
> > 
> > Should we make external toolchain packages host packages, and have a
> > single target package like toolchain-external-runtime that takes care
> > of copying things over to staging/target ? (But then if the licensing
> > is different per toolchain that's annoying). Or should each external
> > toolchain package be both a target and a host package ?
> > 
> > Many questions for which I don't have immediate answers I must admit.  
> 
> I don't really have opinion on this, this is more Buildroot design policy. I
> will let you, maintainers, decide the instructions. 

Anyone have an opinions on this?
Arnout I know you are the toolchain expert, what do you think?

Regards,
-- 
Köry Maincent, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com