feat: make FastLED Reciprocal License project agnostic

AGENTS.md

@@ -4,6 +4,29 @@ This repository contains draft license text and preliminary legal research. It
 does not provide legal advice, and an agent's research is not an adoption or
 licensing decision.
 
+## Keep the reusable license separate from adopting projects
+
+Treat this repository like a repository of reusable license text. It does not
+need a universal software owner. A maintainer or steward of the canonical text
+controls text publication and versioning only; that role does not by itself
+make the person a copyright owner, licensor, commercial licensor, beneficiary,
+or enforcement claimant for software placed under the license.
+
+For every adoption or enforcement question, identify the applicable software
+Contributor or rights holder separately. A commercial-license exception can
+come only from the applicable Contributors or someone independently authorized
+by them. Do not investigate the ownership, contribution history, or source-file
+headers of the FastLED codebase merely because the license is named FastLED.
+Those facts are relevant only when the question specifically concerns FastLED
+adoption, FastLED rights, or enforcement involving FastLED software.
+
+The AI Coding Agent Notice is different: it is generic, reproduced as Exhibit
+C, and incorporated into the License by Section 11.7. Treat inclusion of the
+complete notice as an adoption and source-distribution requirement. Do not
+describe it as an optional FastLED-specific companion. Keep that inclusion
+condition distinct from the notice's statement that an automated agent is not
+itself made a contracting party or independent enforcement target.
+
 For any request involving license interpretation, enforcement, infringement,
 remedies, litigation, statutes, cases, or legal strategy:
 

ARTIFACTS.sha256

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-796cef1d065c002d315c54396554eb7ec8370508a8e8603eb854d565f439739f  LICENSE
+a42aa7bb2925ba62054e14d6f4b32b2d1358270f0ac61cd7ec753a1ac00db7eb  LICENSE
 452bf527cba6c1635f7c8d4a756c06ae3d2cbb50e020e612ac40cdee0233781f  MPL-2.0.txt
-148be00f39e59e253975af8877079769cb00826a325e3800701a6c33e5c00e0c  LICENSE-AI-AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md
+07b4400299f67dad4bf49de5f3e2ee5c19daf2d95fc0800e0e07987993c66a13  LICENSE-AI-AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md
 4358d4c37f1305b43a3117a6a12780f666bf285538de0b28991613c0ccacecd8  LICENSE-MIT-LEGACY
-c6bd6afda69f5cea2a4a874c154ca050a556874f84b838c19a142f3250e8b70c  NOTICE-TEMPLATE.txt
-51222de9259d572d17c344e6abb8c42731925562155ea23d0cc4459532e8a640  NOTICE-TEMPLATE-MIT-LEGACY.txt
-1fb54087cd657bec3976a8c034e4f926afdd19fa60edf3278d830ce99e01ddb3  ai-policy.toml
-48ea8c0a5d38fabaf2c4410024d436204abc8edfda1e05a472513d2714a46e64  header-policy.toml
-8fa0781e065d623ecc77bfe15dc0a8277ffd4cd1f5867bbc61205adc4ad21d47  header-policy.schema.json
-f98750e93262548670e23aea434efd8cdd6daa7de50d976ec61f05db46c29574  tools/license_headers.py
+4cc93f53cd775a8ed98c46e7658ce8ebce1c7fc764ddfc56224d7c8c582ae4c4  NOTICE-TEMPLATE.txt
+8975b7bc9e8a11b7d4769efcbafab0a239c03a29cec027bd8a1140fe8f43b12d  NOTICE-TEMPLATE-MIT-LEGACY.txt
+b86c86db6b0a405f5c3933c1ed7e2495e2b889c8b01550b9bf2a5830b82136ba  ai-policy.toml
+965ec1ba8ff569db31e5f366909ae387b152f174ab3404154919b989e95dea23  header-policy.toml
+46a58ea084f12a001709c9b59a05d24be7180f82da52a12f646b18bd22125826  header-policy.schema.json
+b9ea8bd9ef4d6eff9729d914db7927216ba2b49f4b800a89ea55906f155b1963  tools/license_headers.py

LEGAL-REVIEW.md

@@ -2,93 +2,90 @@
 
 Status: **PENDING**
 
-Before tagging `v1.0.0`, adopting this license in FastLED, or stamping the
+Before tagging `v1.0.0`, recommending adoption, or stamping the
 non-release-candidate identifier `LicenseRef-FastLED-Reciprocal-1.0`, an
-open-source licensing attorney must review and approve the license text.
-The header tool enforces this mechanically: `tools/license_headers.py`
-refuses `update`/`apply` for a non-`-rc` identifier until this file records
+open-source licensing attorney must review and approve the license text. The
+header tool enforces this mechanically: `tools/license_headers.py` refuses
+`update` or `apply` for a non-`-rc` identifier until this file records
 `Status: APPROVED`.
 
 Approval must record reviewer identity, date, reviewed commit, and any
 required changes. Removing this gate without documented review is not
 approval.
 
-## AI first-pass review (2026-08-24)
+## AI first-pass review
 
-An AI multi-agent first-pass review was completed and filed as issues
-[#2](https://github.com/FastLED/license/issues/2)–[#8](https://github.com/FastLED/license/issues/8)
-(meta: #8). The license was restructured in response. That review is input
-to — not a substitute for — the attorney review above.
+An AI multi-agent first-pass review of rc1 was filed as GitHub issues #2-#8
+on 2026-08-24. The license was restructured in response. Rc2 then separated
+the reusable license text from the rights, repositories, and commercial
+licensing decisions of any particular adopting project. That work is input
+to, not a substitute for, attorney review.
 
-## Decisions applied in the restructuring (pending attorney ratification)
+## Decisions applied pending attorney ratification
 
-These were applied with the review's recommended defaults, plus steward
-direction on timing. The reviewing attorney must confirm each on the
-record:
-
-1. **Single-instrument construction.** The license is now one
-   self-contained document: a modified MPL 2.0 (renamed per its Section
-   10.3, FastLED as steward, Mozilla references limited to the permitted
-   differs-from note) with the Additional Terms as Section 11 and
-   rewritten Exhibits. `MPL-2.0.txt` remains only as the unmodified base
-   text for provenance comparison.
-2. **Section 11.3 is an express condition of the copyright grant only**
-   (Section 2.7). The contributor patent grant under 2.1(b) is
-   deliberately NOT conditioned on Section 11.3 — contributors never
-   agreed to have their patents armed as a sales-disclosure tripwire.
-   Confirm this allocation.
-3. **Exhibit B is attached; Secondary-License distribution is closed**
-   (Sections 1.5, 3.3, 11.6). This makes the license deliberately
-   GPL-incompatible in exchange for making Section 11.3 non-bypassable.
-   Confirm this trade-off with the steward; it cannot be had both ways.
-4. **Zero-day timing is intentional and per-version** (steward decision,
-   2026-08-24). The development period before first commercial transfer
-   is the compliance window; developing in a public fork is standing
-   compliance (11.3(b)). There is no post-transfer cure that
-   retroactively authorizes: units reproduced or transferred before
-   publication remain unlicensed (11.3(f)), while publication reinstates
-   prospectively under Section 5.1. Confirm the condition/covenant
-   framing and the 11.3(f) interaction with Section 5.1.
-5. **The trigger is "Triggering Transfer",** per-version and recurring,
-   bound to the party that created or commissioned the modifications,
-   with carve-outs for intra-group transfers, contract manufacturers,
-   leases that convey no copy, and downstream resellers, plus a
-   free-firmware-with-paid-product limb and an explicit SaaS statement
-   (11.1). The term "First Sale" was removed to avoid collision with the
-   17 U.S.C. §109 exhaustion doctrine.
-6. **AI-agent guidance is fully de-legalized** (Section 11.7): not part
-   of the license, excluded from the Section 3.4 notice-integrity rule,
-   header lines reduced and marked removable, document reordered
-   authorization-first, machine-readable `ai-policy.toml` added.
-7. **Release-candidate status moved from prose into the identifier**
-   (`LicenseRef-FastLED-Reciprocal-1.0-rc1`); the former LICENSE §4
-   self-review clause was removed from the instrument and lives here.
+1. **Reusable-text architecture.** The FastLED Reciprocal License may be
+   applied to software from any project. The canonical repository and its
+   maintainers publish and version the text only. They do not become the
+   owner, commercial licensor, beneficiary, or enforcement claimant for an
+   adopter's software. Each Contributor grants rights only in its
+   Contributions. Any separate commercial license must come from the
+   applicable Contributors or someone independently authorized by them.
+   Confirm Sections 10.1 and 11.3(g).
+2. **Single-instrument construction.** The license is one self-contained
+   document: a modified MPL 2.0 renamed under its Section 10.3, with Mozilla
+   references limited to the permitted differs-from note, the Reciprocal
+   Terms in Section 11, and rewritten Exhibits. `MPL-2.0.txt` remains only as
+   provenance material.
+3. **Sections 11.3 and 11.7(a) condition only the copyright grant.** Section
+   2.7 does not condition the Contributor patent grant in Section 2.1(b) on
+   the public-availability rule or required AI-notice inclusion. Confirm this
+   allocation.
+4. **Exhibit B closes Secondary-License distribution.** Sections 1.5, 3.3,
+   and 11.6 make the license deliberately GPL-incompatible in exchange for
+   making Section 11.3 non-bypassable. Confirm this trade-off before
+   recommending adoption.
+5. **Zero-day timing is intentional and per version.** The development period
+   before a commercial Triggering Transfer is the compliance window.
+   Publication after the transfer restores rights only prospectively under
+   Sections 5.1 and 11.3(f). Confirm the condition-versus-covenant framing and
+   remedy consequences.
+6. **The Triggering Transfer is recurring and modifier-bound.** It includes
+   the free-software-with-paid-product scenario and excludes specified
+   intra-group, manufacturing, lease, reseller, and network-only conduct.
+   Confirm each boundary and the interaction with applicable exhaustion law.
+7. **The AI Coding Agent Notice is generic and mandatory.** Exhibit C and
+   `LICENSE-AI-AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md` contain the same project-agnostic notice.
+   Section 11.7(a) requires every adopter and source distributor to include a
+   complete copy as a copyright-license condition. Section 11.7(b) separately
+   states that an automated agent is not made a contracting party or
+   enforcement target and that its operating guidance adds no further
+   condition. Confirm that distinction and every distribution path.
+8. **Release-candidate status is explicit.** The current identifier is
+   `LicenseRef-FastLED-Reciprocal-1.0-rc2`; the final identifier remains gated.
 
 ## Attorney checklist
 
-- the Section 11.1 definitions (Official FastLED Repository, Modified
-  FastLED, Triggering Transfer, Publicly Available);
-- the Section 11.3 condition: mechanics, duration, third-party
-  interference safe harbor, 11.3(f) remedy model, separate-license valve;
-- Section 2.7 condition scope (copyright-only) and the Jacobsen/MDY
-  condition-vs-covenant framing;
-- the Exhibit B / GPL-incompatibility trade-off (decision 3 above);
-- the modified Sections 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 4, 9, 10 against
-  MPL 2.0, and whether the Section 10.3 rename obligations are satisfied;
-- contributor copyright/patent grants, provenance, and the MIT
-  relicensing path (sublicensing theory; notice preservation — see the
-  ownership-audit item in README);
-- compatibility with downstream licenses, package registries, and SCA
-  tooling; and
-- the informational, non-remedial character of the AI-agent guidance and
-  `ai-policy.toml`.
+- the Section 10 distinction between canonical text publication and each
+  adopter's software ownership, licensing authority, and standing;
+- the Section 11.1 definitions of optional Upstream Repository, Modified
+  Covered Software, Triggering Transfer, and Publicly Available;
+- the Section 11.3 condition, duration, third-party-interference safe harbor,
+  prospective-only model, and project-specific separate-license valve;
+- Section 2.7 condition scope and the *Jacobsen*/*MDY* condition-versus-covenant
+  framing;
+- the Exhibit B and GPL-incompatibility decision;
+- the modified Sections 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 4, 9, and 10 against MPL
+  2.0, including compliance with MPL Section 10.3;
+- Contributor copyright and patent grants and the requirement that each
+  adopter separately validate provenance, authority, and third-party notices;
+- compatibility with downstream licenses, registries, and SCA tooling; and
+- the mandatory inclusion and agent-directed legal-effect boundaries of the
+  generic AI Coding Agent Notice.
 
-## Open items deliberately not decided here
+## Open items
 
-- Whether to modify Section 8 (defendant's-forum litigation venue,
-  inherited from MPL) for an enforcement-oriented license.
+- Whether to modify Section 8's defendant-principal-place litigation rule.
 - Whether to add a BUSL/FSL-style sunset or reversion clause.
-- The strategic comparison recorded in issue #8: unmodified MPL-2.0 plus
-  a published upstreaming norm plus commercial licensing, versus this
-  bespoke instrument. The steward has elected to proceed with the bespoke
-  instrument; counsel should still price the comparison.
+- Whether unmodified MPL 2.0 plus a nonbinding upstreaming norm and
+  project-specific commercial licensing would better meet adopter goals than
+  this bespoke instrument.