I agree with John's point of view. I would even go further: I would
suggest make a web page that explains clearly all the advantages of
Copyright assigment, and make the process as simple as possible, but I
would leave the definitive choice of assigning copyright or not to the
contributor. If he/she still decides not to assign the Copyright, it
should not be a reason not to accept the contribution, as long as it is
under the same license as the rest of Classpath (ideally: GPL + modified
exception:-)
What's wrong with this?
Etienne
John Keiser wrote:
> Etienne has brought up some concerns about GNU copyright assignment being
> required before any contributions are made to the project, and I have some
> concerns as well (albeit different ones).
>
> Specifically, I think required copyright assignment is hindering the
> project. People who would otherwise contribute are being turned off, not
> because they don't *want* to assign copyright, but because it's *hard* and
> IMO it seems like unnecessary lawyer bullshit has been forced into what was
> once an uninhibited, exciting process. People have to receive the papers,
> fill them out, send them in the mail, wait for GNU to process them, get
> confirmation back. I think the first time I did it, my papers actually were
> returned to sender because of the wrong address ... it was months before I
> did it again, and frankly I can't remember whether I *did* do it again (I am
> willing to if anyone has a problem). It slows down the wheels, and hackers
> who are contributing a patch for the first time are the *last* people we
> want to slow down.
>
> There is at least one example of this--someone submitted a patch like 3
> weeks ago that I would like to commit, but we have to wait for him to fill
> out papers and send them back, which he may never do--because it's hard.
> When something waits for a week or more, many people tend to forget about
> it. I know I can't even remember what the patch was for at the moment
> (something to do with ClassLoader I think), and with every passing day an
> important change stands more and more chance of getting lost. I don't keep
> detailed to-do lists. I
>
> I understand the rationale for it. I think it's fine to require it. Just
> don't make it hard.
>
> Here are my suggestions for solving the problem (some are mutually
> exclusive):
> 1. Allow contributions without assignment of copyright.
> 2. Make the assignment of copyright easier by going electronic. Have them
> go to a page explaining the assignment, maybe even sign their name with a
> mouse (in Java), and click submit.
> 3. As a temporary compromise, perhaps up the # of lines required to call a
> patch "substantial."
> 4. Check with the lawyers and find out whether it's possible to contact
> people *after* legal proceedings begin. This is probably a less happy
> solution, but nonetheless a good one.
> 5. If nothing else, make a "pending patch archive" so that people can make
> contributions that aren't accepted yet, and so it stays fresh in our minds.
>
> I know Etienne is worried about assigning copyright at *all*. This is a
> whole separate issue, especially for corporations who are trying to give
> something back to the community. Can we really accept huge patches from
> Intel, for example? I suspect that that's not as big a concern me as an
> individual, though, since my work becomes public domain at that point anyway
> and if it is misused by the new owner, I can fork. As long as my name is
> associated with my work, I am happy, and I suspect most other hackers are
> too.
>
> --John
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/classpath
>
>
>
--
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| �tienne M. Gagnon mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] |
| Professeur adjoint T�l�phone: (514) 987-3000 poste 8215 |
| Bureau: PK-4930 T�l�copieur: (514) 987-8477 |
| D�partement d'informatique, UQ�M http://www.info.uqam.ca/ |
| Auteur de SableVM http://www.sablevm.org/ |
| et de SableCC http://www.sablecc.org/ |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Etienne M. Gagnon mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] |
| Assistant Professor Phone: (514) 987-3000 ext. 8215 |
| Office: PK-4930 Fax: (514) 987-8477 |
| Department of Computer Science, UQAM http://www.info.uqam.ca/ |
| Author of SableVM http://www.sablevm.org/ |
| and SableCC http://www.sablecc.org/ |
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