Re: Copyright outdated? in Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 and not addressed in Cygwin FAQ 7.1 link
On 2023-02-21 02:12, Corinna Vinschen wrote: On Feb 20 13:20, Brian Inglis wrote: Hi folks, [Addressing to patches as that's where we'll fix it, and not a general issue.] Noticed that: https://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html#q-copyright-cygwin "12.6. Who holds the copyright on the Cygwin source code? Red Hat owns the copyright on the Cygwin source code. Red Hat requires that copyright be assigned to Red Hat for non-trivial changes to Cygwin. You must fill out a copyright transfer form if you are going to contribute substantial changes to Cygwin." Has that not been assigned to the project? And also: https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.copyright "7.1. What are the copyrights? 7.1. What are the copyrights? Please see https://cygwin.com/licensing.html for more information about Cygwin copyright and licensing." -> "Cygwin™ Linking Exception As a special exception, the copyright holders of the Cygwin library" Is that the project? Yes, that's the Cygwin project, not the distro as a whole. All packages in the distro have their own license. THe above is strictly only about the Cygwin project license as defined by ... [...] Or does it belong to the authors individually and/or the project or the https://cygwin.com/git/?p=newlib-cygwin.git;a=blob;f=winsup/CYGWIN_LICENSE After Red Hat stopped selling the Cygwin buyout license, Red Hat changed the license of the DLL to "GPLv3+ w/ linking exception" and handed the copyright over to the community, so the copyright holders are the individual contributors, most of which are mentioned in https://cygwin.com/git/?p=newlib-cygwin.git;a=blob;f=winsup/CONTRIBUTORS The former buyout licenses had a pretty long lifetime, so it was necessary from a legal perspective, that contributors passed over the code under a BSD-2-clause license as long as the buyout licenses were active. This time has passed in the meantime, so we don't really need the CONTRIBUTORS file anymore. "Cygwin authors" collectively? The project doesn't "belong" anybody anymore. The project has copyright holders. Those are the developers contributing code to the project collectively. Thanks Corinna, That makes sense and I will see how I can tweak the FAQs to reflect the current status, likely X 12.6 refers to Cygwin 7.1, which makes that explicit statement. I will make and send patches. It is still worth getting licence agreements and updating and maintaining the CONTRIBUTORS file to acknowledge the copyright holders, and give the project a basis for contact in case there is ever any need to modify licences, or any other reason to contact copyright holders. Without that list, the project can not contact copyright holders, so terms or licences can never change, if the current sources or licence(s) ever have problem(s) for any reason, so the project could have to reconstituted on some other basis, or else abandoned! -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada La perfection est atteinte Perfection is achieved non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter not when there is no more to add mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer but when there is no more to cut -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Re: Copyright outdated? in Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 and not addressed in Cygwin FAQ 7.1 link
On Feb 20 13:20, Brian Inglis wrote: > Hi folks, > [Addressing to patches as that's where we'll fix it, and not a general issue.] > > Noticed that: > > https://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html#q-copyright-cygwin > > "12.6. Who holds the copyright on the Cygwin source code? > > Red Hat owns the copyright on the Cygwin source code. Red Hat requires that > copyright be assigned to Red Hat for non-trivial changes to Cygwin. You must > fill out a copyright transfer form if you are going to contribute > substantial changes to Cygwin." > > Has that not been assigned to the project? > > And also: > > https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.copyright > > "7.1. What are the copyrights? > 7.1. > What are the copyrights? > Please see https://cygwin.com/licensing.html for more information about > Cygwin copyright and licensing." > > -> > > "Cygwin™ Linking Exception > As a special exception, the copyright holders of the Cygwin library" > > Is that the project? Yes, that's the Cygwin project, not the distro as a whole. All packages in the distro have their own license. THe above is strictly only about the Cygwin project license as defined by ... > [...] > Or does it belong to the authors individually and/or the project or the https://cygwin.com/git/?p=newlib-cygwin.git;a=blob;f=winsup/CYGWIN_LICENSE After Red Hat stopped selling the Cygwin buyout license, Red Hat changed the license of the DLL to "GPLv3+ w/ linking exception" and handed the copyright over to the community, so the copyright holders are the individual contributors, most of which are mentioned in https://cygwin.com/git/?p=newlib-cygwin.git;a=blob;f=winsup/CONTRIBUTORS The former buyout licenses had a pretty long lifetime, so it was necessary from a legal perspective, that contributors passed over the code under a BSD-2-clause license as long as the buyout licenses were active. This time has passed in the meantime, so we don't really need the CONTRIBUTORS file anymore. > "Cygwin authors" collectively? The project doesn't "belong" anybody anymore. The project has copyright holders. Those are the developers contributing code to the project collectively. Corinna
Re: Copyright outdated? in Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 and not addressed in Cygwin FAQ 7.1 link
On 2023-02-20 15:00, Jon Turney wrote: On 20/02/2023 20:20, Brian Inglis wrote: Hi folks, [Addressing to patches as that's where we'll fix it, and not a general issue.] Noticed that: https://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html#q-copyright-cygwin "12.6. Who holds the copyright on the Cygwin source code? Red Hat owns the copyright on the Cygwin source code. Red Hat requires that copyright be assigned to Red Hat for non-trivial changes to Cygwin. You must fill out a copyright transfer form if you are going to contribute substantial changes to Cygwin." Has that not been assigned to the project? And also: https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.copyright "7.1. What are the copyrights? 7.1. What are the copyrights? Please see https://cygwin.com/licensing.html for more information about Cygwin copyright and licensing." -> "Cygwin™ Linking Exception As a special exception, the copyright holders of the Cygwin library" Is that the project? Or does it belong to the authors individually and/or the project or the "Cygwin authors" collectively? Could we please be as current and explicit as possible in the FAQs once current situation is clear and wording is agreed? Please note above statement - I have no idea who owns the copyrights - X says RH - Cygwin waffles about copyright holders - nothing says who they are - I suggested alternatives - someone needs to tell me! Thinking that Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 should defer to Cygwin FAQ 7.1. Yes. 12.3 and 12.6 should just be links to places where correct information can be found. Willing to submit FAQ patches ;^> Please do so. Note that the source for this FAQ is docbook in [1] [1] https://cygwin.com/git/cygwin-apps/xorg-doc.git -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada La perfection est atteinte Perfection is achieved non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter not when there is no more to add mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer but when there is no more to cut -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Re: Copyright outdated? in Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 and not addressed in Cygwin FAQ 7.1 link
On 20/02/2023 20:20, Brian Inglis wrote: Hi folks, [Addressing to patches as that's where we'll fix it, and not a general issue.] Noticed that: https://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html#q-copyright-cygwin "12.6. Who holds the copyright on the Cygwin source code? Red Hat owns the copyright on the Cygwin source code. Red Hat requires that copyright be assigned to Red Hat for non-trivial changes to Cygwin. You must fill out a copyright transfer form if you are going to contribute substantial changes to Cygwin." Has that not been assigned to the project? And also: https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.copyright "7.1. What are the copyrights? 7.1. What are the copyrights? Please see https://cygwin.com/licensing.html for more information about Cygwin copyright and licensing." -> "Cygwin™ Linking Exception As a special exception, the copyright holders of the Cygwin library" Is that the project? Or does it belong to the authors individually and/or the project or the "Cygwin authors" collectively? Could we please be as current and explicit as possible in the FAQs once current situation is clear and wording is agreed? Thinking that Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 should defer to Cygwin FAQ 7.1. Yes. 12.3 and 12.6 should just be links to places where correct information can be found. Willing to submit FAQ patches ;^> Please do so. Note that the source for this FAQ is docbook in [1] [1] https://cygwin.com/git/cygwin-apps/xorg-doc.git
Copyright outdated? in Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 and not addressed in Cygwin FAQ 7.1 link
Hi folks, [Addressing to patches as that's where we'll fix it, and not a general issue.] Noticed that: https://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html#q-copyright-cygwin "12.6. Who holds the copyright on the Cygwin source code? Red Hat owns the copyright on the Cygwin source code. Red Hat requires that copyright be assigned to Red Hat for non-trivial changes to Cygwin. You must fill out a copyright transfer form if you are going to contribute substantial changes to Cygwin." Has that not been assigned to the project? And also: https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.what.copyright "7.1. What are the copyrights? 7.1. What are the copyrights? Please see https://cygwin.com/licensing.html for more information about Cygwin copyright and licensing." -> "Cygwin™ Linking Exception As a special exception, the copyright holders of the Cygwin library" Is that the project? Or does it belong to the authors individually and/or the project or the "Cygwin authors" collectively? Could we please be as current and explicit as possible in the FAQs once current situation is clear and wording is agreed? Thinking that Cygwin/X FAQ 12.6 should defer to Cygwin FAQ 7.1. Willing to submit FAQ patches ;^> -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada La perfection est atteinte Perfection is achieved non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter not when there is no more to add mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirerbut when there is no more to cut -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
