Re: [PULL v2 00/73] tcg plugins and testing updates

[Markus Armbruster]

Markus Armbruster <address@hidden> writes:

> Alex Bennée <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> Markus Armbruster <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>> I hate to interfere with the merging of working code for non-technical
>>> reasons....
>>>
>>> This is a plugin interface.  As I wrote in reply to v4, I'd like to see
>>> a pragmatic argument why abuse of the plugin interface to circumvent the
>>> GPL is not practical.  This might include "not a stable interface", "you
>>> have to link with a truckload of gpl code", "the set of things you can
>>> do is deliberately extremely limited".
[...]
>>> If merging this could be delayed until the licensing ramifications have
>>> become a bit more clear, I'd be obliged.
>>
>> I'd rather not unless we can make an exception for late merging of the
>> PR. I've worked quite hard to make sure everything is ready for the 4.2
>> window and I'd rather not miss a whole release cycle on a
>> misunderstanding of what these plugins allow.
>
> I think there are multiple ways to avoid the nuclear outcome.
>
> Coming to a conclusion before the soft freeze is the nicest one.
>
> Making an exception for late merging is another one, but Peter may
> prefer not to.
>
> Yet another one is merging the pull request before the soft freeze with
> the understanding that it'll be reverted unless we come to a positive
> conclusion before say -rc0 (Nov 5).  I'm confident we can work it out in
> Lyon.

The series has since been merged, so just for the record: we did.  The
plugin interface looks useful for its stated purposes, yet pretty
useless for GPL circumvention.  We'll evolve it deliberately to preserve
that property.

Alex, thank you for your patience.