I agree that we definitely need to address IP issues around documentation/the wiki... but isn't there any way to accomplish this without adding barriers to users editing content? Can we do something like wikipedia does for editing content where there is a checkbox or a notice or something saying "You agree to license your contributions under the Apache Software License" (similar to how JIRA is currently)
-- Erik B. Craig On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 9:00 AM, Kevan Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > All, > To properly protect the IP rights of our Wiki-based documentation, we need > to stop allowing unrestricted write access to our Wiki. Wiki contributors > should be required to have an ICLA on file with the ASF. I also think that > we need to hold a PMC vote before granting this access. > > I'll also take this opportunity to remind the community that Wiki updates > are sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] These updates need to be reviewed by > the community, just like all code updates. > > IMO, we don't want this to be a heavy-weight process. We don't want there > to be a significant hurdle to contributing documentation. For code updates, > patch files attached to Jira's with the "Grant license to ASF" button > checked takes care of these IP concerns. To my knowledge, there's no patch > file equivalent for updates to a Wiki. We could require that documentation > updates be contributed in the form of simple ascii text files that are > attached to a Jira. This would address our IP concerns, but is not ideal > IMO. > > To keep this as light-weight as possible, I propose we formalize the > concept of "contributor". A contributor would have write access to our Wiki > documentation as well as the ability to assign Jira's to him/herself. > > I think the process would go something like this... > > 0. Reset write access to our wiki to be only the current set of committers > on the project. > > 1. New documentation contributions from non-committers/contributors must > be submitted via a Jira, with the "Grant License to the ASF" box checked. > This is just like any code/bug-fix submission. > > 2. Once a new participant has expressed interest in contributing to the > project and/or has contributed documentation or bug fixes, a PMC vote will > be called to grant the new participant "contributor" rights. As all PMC > votes, this vote is a majority vote, require a minimum of 3 +1 votes, and > will last for a minimum of 72 hours. > > 3. Once a vote has passed, the participant will be invited to join the > project as a 'contributor'. Assuming he/she accepts, the participant must > then submit an ICLA to the ASF. > Once the ICLA is on file, the new 'contributor' will give given write > access to our wiki and the ability to assign Jira's. > > 4. The new contributor will be announced to the community. > > I've grouped Jira rights with wiki rights in the above. This is not > strictly necessary, but grouping the two seems like a reasonable step. > > This is my first pass at a proposal. We can tweak this process in a number > of ways and there are alternatives. I think the hard requirements are 1) the > PMC must vote and 2) an ICLA must be filed with the ASF. > > Until we resolve this issue, we need to restrict Wiki write access to be > the current set of Geronimo committers. > > --kevan > >
