[PATCH v3] drm: uapi: Use SPDX in DRM core uAPI headers

Laurent Pinchart
2026-04-07T10:49:56Z

The DRM core uAPI headers are licensed under the MIT license, and carry
copies of the license with slight variations. Replace them with SPDX
headers.

Following a discussion with Simona Vetter on this topic, add a
clarification in the drm-uapi.rst file that independent closed-source
userspace implementations of software using the DRM uAPI are accepted,
as allowed by the MIT license.

Signed-off-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart+renesas@ideasonboard.com>
Reviewed-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Reviewed-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Reviewed-by: Simona Vetter <simona.vetter@ffwll.ch>
---
Dave, could I get your ack on this ? Please also let me know if it
should go through drm-misc or if you prefer picking it up.
---
Documentation/gpu/drm-uapi.rst | 4 ++++
include/uapi/drm/drm.h | 20 +-------------------
include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h | 20 +-------------------
include/uapi/drm/drm_mode.h | 19 +------------------
include/uapi/drm/drm_sarea.h | 20 +-------------------
5 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 75 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/drm-uapi.rst b/Documentation/gpu/drm-uapi.rst
index 579e87cb9ff7..32206ce62931 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/drm-uapi.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/drm-uapi.rst
@@ -118,6 +118,10 @@ is already rather painful for the DRM subsystem, with multiple different uAPIs
for the same thing co-existing. If we add a few more complete mistakes into the
mix every year it would be entirely unmanageable.

+The DRM subsystem has however no concern with independent closed-source
+userspace implementations. To officialize that position, the DRM uAPI headers
+are covered by the MIT license.
+
.. _drm_render_node:

Render nodes
diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/drm.h b/include/uapi/drm/drm.h
index 495462e44a17..bc7ef7684099 100644
--- a/include/uapi/drm/drm.h
+++ b/include/uapi/drm/drm.h
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
/*
* Header for the Direct Rendering Manager
*
@@ -11,25 +12,6 @@
* Copyright 1999 Precision Insight, Inc., Cedar Park, Texas.
* Copyright 2000 VA Linux Systems, Inc., Sunnyvale, California.
* All rights reserved.
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
- * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
- * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
- * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
- * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
- * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
- * paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
- * Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
- * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
- * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
- * VA LINUX SYSTEMS AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
- * OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
- * ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
- * OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

#ifndef _DRM_H_
diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h b/include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h
index ac66fa93b5a3..2caf8249f892 100644
--- a/include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h
+++ b/include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h
@@ -1,24 +1,6 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
/*
* Copyright 2011 Intel Corporation
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
- * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
- * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
- * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
- * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
- * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
- * paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
- * Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
- * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
- * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
- * VA LINUX SYSTEMS AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
- * OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
- * ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
- * OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

#ifndef DRM_FOURCC_H
diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/drm_mode.h b/include/uapi/drm/drm_mode.h
index a4bdc4bd11bc..381a3e857d4e 100644
--- a/include/uapi/drm/drm_mode.h
+++ b/include/uapi/drm/drm_mode.h
@@ -1,27 +1,10 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
/*
* Copyright (c) 2007 Dave Airlie <airlied@linux.ie>
* Copyright (c) 2007 Jakob Bornecrantz <wallbraker@gmail.com>
* Copyright (c) 2008 Red Hat Inc.
* Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Tungsten Graphics, Inc., Cedar Park, TX., USA
* Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Intel Corporation
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
- * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
- * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
- * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
- * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
- * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
- * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
- * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
- * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
- * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
- * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
- * FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
- * IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

#ifndef _DRM_MODE_H
diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/drm_sarea.h b/include/uapi/drm/drm_sarea.h
index a951ced60ebe..1e38d028332d 100644
--- a/include/uapi/drm/drm_sarea.h
+++ b/include/uapi/drm/drm_sarea.h
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
/**
* \file drm_sarea.h
* \brief SAREA definitions
@@ -8,25 +9,6 @@
/*
* Copyright 2002 Tungsten Graphics, Inc., Cedar Park, Texas.
* All Rights Reserved.
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
- * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
- * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
- * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
- * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
- * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
- * paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
- * Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
- * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
- * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
- * TUNGSTEN GRAPHICS AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
- * OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
- * ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
- * OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

#ifndef _DRM_SAREA_H_

base-commit: dc2d30e7db8321a6696d266838f7af7e9d1c7155
--
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart