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Posted to dev@subversion.apache.org by Edmund Wong <ed...@kdtc.net> on 2009/07/07 01:02:57 UTC
question on headers
Hi,
Pardon my ignorance, but under what conditions (or policies)
does the SVN project permit the addition of header(s) to the
project?
Thanks
Edmund
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Re: CLAs for patch contributors? (was: Re: question on headers)
Posted by "Hyrum K. Wright" <hy...@hyrumwright.org>.
On Jul 7, 2009, at 6:59 AM, Stefan Sperling wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 03:17:41PM +0800, Edmund Wong wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
>>>>> http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
>>>> Does this also apply to patches?
>>>
>>> I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that any patch over N lines would
>>> require this, where N is probably a small number like 5.
>>>
>>
>> I would've thought that with an Open Source project such as
>> SVN, the contributions would by default belong to the project
>> and no one else? Or am I confusing this with some other
>> license/theory?
>
> I guess that, in theory, any license sitting beyond a BSD-like one
> on the "I don't care" scale will require some amount of paperwork.
>
> But I don't think we require CLAs from patch contributors.
> We require CLAs from committers, which as far as I understand is
> similar to what the ASF (Apache Software Foundation) and the FSF
> (Free Software Foundation) are doing, more or less.
We *haven't* requires CLAs from patch contributors in the past, but
encouraging patch contributor to sign now would be a Good Thing,
IMHO. The FSF and ASF both request (require?) contributors of "non-
trivial" patches to sign CLAs before accepting them, even in that
individual is not a committer. By having patch contributors sign CLAs
up front, we can eliminate potential "gotchas" for both the
contributor and the Corp down the road.
(No, we don't have a hard and fast policy on this yet, and I'm sure
we'll debate it ad nauseam before we do, but that shouldn't stop
Edmund from executing a CLA in the meantime :)
> ...
-Hyrum
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CLAs for patch contributors? (was: Re: question on headers)
Posted by Stefan Sperling <st...@elego.de>.
On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 03:17:41PM +0800, Edmund Wong wrote:
> >>>
> >>> http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
> >>> http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
> >> Does this also apply to patches?
> >
> > I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that any patch over N lines would
> > require this, where N is probably a small number like 5.
> >
>
> I would've thought that with an Open Source project such as
> SVN, the contributions would by default belong to the project
> and no one else? Or am I confusing this with some other
> license/theory?
I guess that, in theory, any license sitting beyond a BSD-like one
on the "I don't care" scale will require some amount of paperwork.
But I don't think we require CLAs from patch contributors.
We require CLAs from committers, which as far as I understand is
similar to what the ASF (Apache Software Foundation) and the FSF
(Free Software Foundation) are doing, more or less.
The reasons behind why we require this have to do with the Subversion
Corporation (non-profit), Subversion's various copyright holders
(some corporate, some private individuals), the possibility of
Subversion switching to a standard free software license some time
in the future, and the (small!) possibility of someone who contributed
some code having a huge problem with this (so huge that they'll sue),
and the quirky US patent/copyright law being centered around self-interest
rather than the greater good (even more so than its European equivalent
which isn't exactly great either, but I digress :)
So, well, yeah, very boring stuff. It's really a theoretical problem,
until it happens (which I doubt, but IANAL).
I'd say just submit code, and when you'll have to sign a CLA, someone
(most likely Ben-Collins Sussman) will explicitly ask you to sign it
in a mail directly addressed to you.
But before that happens, don't bother with this. Just write code.
We take it for granted that patch contributions are done in good faith,
and that the contributor won't mind us changing the license at any time
in the future (e.g. to Apache v2).
Stefan
Re: question on headers
Posted by Edmund Wong <ed...@kdtc.net>.
Blair Zajac wrote:
>>
>> and place it in a new header, say svn_conflict_stat.h. But
>> I'm getting the feeling that it would be frowned upon as it
>> would add one more file to the bunch.
>
> Yes, just put it in an existing file.
>
Thanks for the clarification.
>>>
>>> http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
>>> http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
>> Does this also apply to patches?
>
> I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that any patch over N lines would
> require this, where N is probably a small number like 5.
>
I would've thought that with an Open Source project such as
SVN, the contributions would by default belong to the project
and no one else? Or am I confusing this with some other
license/theory?
Edmund
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Re: question on headers
Posted by Blair Zajac <bl...@orcaware.com>.
On Jul 6, 2009, at 8:45 PM, Edmund Wong wrote:
> Blair Zajac wrote:
>
>> What do you mean by headers? You mean C header files? What do you
>> want to add?
>>
> I meant C header files., i.e. svn_wc.h
>
> I'm attempting issue #3342, and don't want to complicate the
> existing headers by adding conflict stats to them and maybe another
> reason is I'm not even sure if the header content belong to any of the
> current headers. Currently, conflict stats are placed in the
> notify_baton, and my intention is taking them out of the notify_baton
> and sticking them in a new struct, say:
>
> struct svn_conflict_stats {
> ...stats here..
>
> } svn_conflict_stats_t
>
> and place it in a new header, say svn_conflict_stat.h. But
> I'm getting the feeling that it would be frowned upon as it
> would add one more file to the bunch.
Yes, just put it in an existing file.
>> Contributors must sign one of the following depending if they are
>> an individual
>> or corporation:
>>
>> http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
>> http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
>
> Does this also apply to patches?
I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that any patch over N lines would
require this, where N is probably a small number like 5.
Blair
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Re: question on headers
Posted by Edmund Wong <ed...@kdtc.net>.
Blair Zajac wrote:
> What do you mean by headers? You mean C header files? What do you want to add?
>
I meant C header files., i.e. svn_wc.h
I'm attempting issue #3342, and don't want to complicate the
existing headers by adding conflict stats to them and maybe another
reason is I'm not even sure if the header content belong to any of the
current headers. Currently, conflict stats are placed in the
notify_baton, and my intention is taking them out of the notify_baton
and sticking them in a new struct, say:
struct svn_conflict_stats {
...stats here..
} svn_conflict_stats_t
and place it in a new header, say svn_conflict_stat.h. But
I'm getting the feeling that it would be frowned upon as it
would add one more file to the bunch.
> Contributors must sign one of the following depending if they are an individual
> or corporation:
>
> http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
> http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
Does this also apply to patches?
Thanks.
Edmund
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http://subversion.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=462&dsMessageId=2368637
Re: question on headers
Posted by Blair Zajac <bl...@orcaware.com>.
Edmund Wong wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Pardon my ignorance, but under what conditions (or policies)
> does the SVN project permit the addition of header(s) to the
> project?
>
> Thanks
>
> Edmund
What do you mean by headers? You mean C header files? What do you want to add?
Contributors must sign one of the following depending if they are an individual
or corporation:
http://subversion.org/legal/individual-cla.html
http://subversion.org/legal/corporate-cla.txt
Regards,
Blair
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