Alain: We have a problem here though. It will be difficult to attribute
a precise author for work done collectively. Who gets mentionned? In
what order? If a hundred people participated, do they all get cited?
If, instead, we decide to declare that OODL is the Copyright Holder,
nothing is solved either because the membership of the OODL is in
perpetual motion.
Uli: I think the people who added to a file will them-selves take care
that they are mentioned as copyright holders of a part by adding that
to the source file.
Alain: YES and no. There could be some bickering. A difference of
opinion concerning the importance of the contribution made by someone
that wishes to be cited as one of the authors.
Uli: Of course, the person who then merges all changed sources (or some
Version Control Software if we ever get that far) will have to take
care to add all names to the file's header.
Alain: The collective name would be much easier to deal with than a
slew of different copyright holders for each distinct part of OC. Even
if the recognition as a co-author were merely honorary, it might still
be unruly to deal with so many names. In collective works, it is
customary to cite the two principal authors followed by a snippet to
indicate that there were other authors.
Uli: But there should be a distinction between people who apply small
bug fixes and people who actually re-write a good part. A re-write
should change the copyright, or at least add to it, while I think
fixing a typo should go in the "Thanks To" section w/o giving Copyright
to that person. Else we'll be at dozens of Copyright holders in no
time.
Alain: Agreed, but it might not be that easy to make this distinction
because there is a whole range of possibilities between a substantial
rewrite and a typo.
Uli: Also, we need a clause that specifies what happens if a copyright
holder doesn't leave a valid e-mail address. Then the other (c) holders
should be entitled to decide w/o that person, or that person may
appoint someone to take care of that in his stead.
Alain: I suggest that the Copyright Holder's mail address be a mailing
list that forwards mail to all members that are designated as Copyright
Holders. Everyone gets notified, and the mailing list address and
server are maintained by the group (forever current).
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