Relicensing project to Apache License 2.0

[gunnar-mb]

The default COVESA license is Mozilla Public License v 2.0 (MPLv2) because it provides a good balance between wide adoption and a copyleft effect that reduces risk of privatization of the code base by any party at a later time (see COVESA license policy).

There are however occasionally concerns when tools perform some sort of code-generation. There may be implementation choices that includes some part (or derivative thereof) of the tool source code in the generated result. Even if MPLv2 is generally considered a weak copyleft license, and seems unlikely to intend to have that effect on generated code, it is still desirable by some companies to see a permissive license for tools of this nature.

The Apache License v2.0 is a popular permissive license alternative, because of the other conditions that are included.

Therefore, the IFEX project is now exploring the possibility to relicense the project. This ticket tracks the progress.

[gunnar-mb]

• Minor contribution in README.md: fix broken DTDL documentation link #105 was proactively agreed to be relicensed.
  (Adrien Leravat Pixep##users.noreply.github.com)

[erikbosch]

Please check with Gerald Spreitz as he has done some similar investigation for other COVESA repos, and I guess it should be synched with at least COVESA technical Steering Team. As I understand it all contributors must agree to the license change. Could be feasible for ifex/vsc-tools as there are a limited set of contributors involved.

[gunnar-mb]

These are all the Author name/email of commits in the current master branch:

NOTE: To reduce email-harvesting for spam the "@" will be replaced by "##" here and in later comments.

Adrien Leravat Pixep##users.noreply.github.com
Erik Jaegervall erik.jaegervall##se.bosch.com
Gunnar Andersson gandersson##covesa.global
Gunnar Andersson gandersson##genivi.org
Gunnar Andersson gunnar.andersson##mercedes-benz.com
Gunnar Andersson gunnar##nospam##novaspring.eu
Gunnar Andersson gunnar##novaspring.eu
Gunnar Andersson gunnar_dev##nospam##novaspring.eu
MANUEBO manuel.boehm##mercedes-benz.com
Magnus Feuer magnus##feuerworks.com
Manu Kemppainen manu.kemppainen##bittium.com
Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
Sebastien RAILLET sebastien.raillet##marelli.com
Sven Walter waltersven##gmx.de
dependabot[bot] 49699333+dependabot[bot]##users.noreply.github.com
gunnarx gunnarx##users.noreply.github.com

Every contribution (each commit) will get individual approval for relicensing from the respective author or copyright-holder, and it will be documented here.

[gunnar-mb]

I personally approve the license change for all commits where Novaspring AB (@novaspring.eu) has copyright.

[gunnar-mb]

These two commits from Magnus Feuer are merge commits only, and therefore they do not add anything not covered by other commits already. The relicensing question will be handled with each original commit author.
1810ade Magnus Feuer magnus##feuerworks.com
667891f Magnus Feuer magnus##feuerworks.com

[gunnar-mb]

All commits done by Michael (Mikhail) Tsukerman (Tcukerman) using this author-address: miketsukerman##gmail.com
and the following Sign-off address: <mikhail.tcukerman##daimler.com> were made during his employment at MBition GmbH, and the company owns the copyright. They will be relicensed dependent on permission from MBition GmbH.

38d28a9 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
3fdd7e2 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
b176b03 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
47cc325 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
442c696 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
7e03a24 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
ce29f9a Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
46cb12b Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
f5cfeb2 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
4f53efa Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
65b527c Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
d45cfd6 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
cb58613 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
a918d9d Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
deb95e9 Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com
3b004df Michael Tsukerman miketsukerman##gmail.com

Each commit is also signed off by a second MBition employee:
Signed-off-by: Magnus Feuer <magnus.feuer##mercedes-benz.com>

[erikbosch]

We had an internal discussion at Bosch. Concerning the Bosch contributions we are willing to accept a license change if COVESA TST approves/recommends a license change.