Re: Integrating the kmod completions upstream

[Oliver Kiddle <opk@zsh.org>]

Emil Velikov wrote:
> Hello team, I'm considering pulling the zsh completion files (as do
> bash and fish fwiw) in the upstream kmod project.

This seems to correspond to the Linux _modutils function in zsh.
(I guess modutils must have been renamed to kmod at some point)
Even if the function stays in zsh, it should be renamed.

> At a glance, a few questions come up:
> - what is the license of the completion files?

Same as the rest of zsh: a variant of the MIT license.

> - would the team be comfortable with relicensing under LGPL-2.1-or-later?

The LGPL is a superset of the zsh license so from a legal standpoint
you can do that. A good portion of the function was written by me and
I don't mind it being changed to match any OSI licence of an upstream
project wanting to pull their completions in. An alternative you might
consider is explicitly dual-licencing the completion file.

> - are there any copyright holders which I could/should add in the
> files themselves?

As a minimum, I would suggest acknowledging in the header that it has
been imported from the zsh project, crediting just "Zsh developers".
About 15 different people have contributed to that function so naming
them all might be a bit much. Or you cut that down to a shorter list.

> - is there a particular process/coordination that you'd suggest?

Not really, just import the function. Have your build system install the
file to $DESTDIR$PREFIX/share/zsh/site-functions and let us know once it
reaches a released version of kmod. It's better that there is an overlap
period when the function is available from both zsh and kmod than a gap
where users get no completion.

> In general, would you recommend me going this route, or perhaps it's
> better to rewrite them from scratch?

Yes, I would recommend that route. In most cases, the upstream project is a
better home for completions because they can better track changes in the
upstream project.

There's no point in duplicating the effort with a rewrite. The
completions included with zsh have the advantage of having been written
by people who know zsh completion well - if not the kmod project well.

Oliver