Summary

We are working to change the license for Spack from the current LGPL-2.1 license , to a dual license under the widely-accepted and common MIT License and the Apache License, version 2.0, so that users may choose the appropriate license for them.

Why MIT / Apache-2.0?

We want to make this change so that Spack can be used as widely as possible. At many organizations, it is difficult or cumbersome to use LGPL-licensed packages, but a number of those organizations have expressed interest in contributing to Spack. The Apache 2.0 license contains important protection against patent aggression, but it is not compatible with the GPL, version 2. The MIT license allows Spack to be integrated with GPLv2 projects. We believe that this combination will appeal to the broadest possible base of users and contributors, and that it will enable us to grow the Spack community most effectively.

What do contributors need to do?

We are asking for permission from all contributors to change the Spack license from LGPL-2.1 to a dual MIT/Apache 2.0 license for their past contribution(s).

If you agree to have all the code that you have contributed to Spack be relicensed in this way, please copy the message below, fill in the blanks with the email addresses you used to contribute to Spack, and paste it either:

1. into a comment on Spack issue Consent for Spack Relicense #9137, or
2. into an email to [email protected]

A note on emails: You only need to post emails that appear in the Spack history. To get these, clone https://github.com/spack/spack.git and use git log to see what emails you should use. For example, Todd Gamblin appears in the logs in the following ways:

$ git clone https://github.com/spack/spack.git
$ cd spack
$ git log --format='"%an" %ae' | grep -i Gamblin | sort | uniq
"George Todd Gamblin" [email protected]
"Todd Gamblin" [email protected]
"Todd Gamblin" [email protected]

You may want to search for your name and <your github username>@noreply.github.com, and any other names you've used. We just need enough to associate your consent with your contributions.

Here is the message text:

My name is _________________________, and I am a contributor to Spack. I have used or may have used the following email address(es): ______________________________. I consent to change the current license contained in the License file at https://github.com/spack/spack/blob/develop/LICENSE from the LGPL-2.1 license to the MIT License and Apache License 2.0 with respect to all of my contributions to Spack.

By granting this permission, you are confirming that you have the right to make your contribution(s) to Spack and to grant this permission, and that if you made your contribution(s) in the course of your employment, that such contributions and consent have been authorized by your employer.

If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you do not consent to the relicensing and we will not relicense your contribution(s).

Discussion

If you have any questions or concerns, please raise them by commenting on issue #9145. We have made a separate issue to avoid notification spam for participants. We will try our best to respond promptly!

We are grateful to all the contributors who have contributed to Spack and look forward to their help and support in this effort!

Thanks!