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Posted to dev@subversion.apache.org by Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com> on 2008/08/08 17:16:39 UTC
Re: Proposal for customized builds
kmradke@rockwellcollins.com writes:
> Ok, I'll bite and start a new thread (as suggested by Karl)...
>
> Some open source projects have documented guidelines on
> releasing "customized builds" of their open source software.
>
> In order to preserve the integrity of the Subversion name,
> I suggest some rules be put in place to help people
> continue the great tradition.
>
> There doesn't appear to be anything in the hacking guide,
> but I think this type of information would fit there.
I understand the spirit in which you're proposing this, but... is it
maybe solving a non-problem? We haven't had a lot of confusion over
custom binaries, and what little confusion we have had has been easily
cleared up. We also have trademark guidelines at
http://subversion.org/legal/trademark-policy.html
and we have enforced them, but that enforcement has usually been about
marketing materials and such, not about custom binaries -- precisely
because we haven't seen much identity confusion around custom binaries.
I do agree with the recommendations you make below. But so far, all the
intended audience seems to already be aware of these recommendations and
to be following them...
> While open source is all about freedom, I do believe
> it is reasonable to be able to restrict usage of the
> name and versioning numbers in nonstandard releases...
Yep; that's trademark law, unrelated to copyright law, and it exists
precisely to prevent identity confusion. The Subversion project uses
trademark law in the same way many open source projects do. There is no
contradiction with the principles of open source here.
-Karl
> * Creating customized builds of Subversion
> We recommend that you first work with the Subversion
> developers to see if the functionality you are adding
> is acceptable for inclusion in the Subversion trunk
> for future release. If it is, great! Submit a patch!
>
> If you would like to release your changes as a customized
> build before the next official release of Subversion, we
> suggest you (TBD).... Things like create a branch, etc.
>
> If your changes are fundamentally incompatible with the
> future direction of Subversion as decided by a majority
> of the Subversion developers, we suggest that your
> customize build be appropriately renamed and future
> development occur in a separate repository.
>
> etc.
>
> While open source is all about freedom, I do believe
> it is reasonable to be able to restrict usage of the
> name and versioning numbers in nonstandard releases...
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Re: Proposal for customized builds
Posted by km...@rockwellcollins.com.
Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com> wrote on 08/08/2008 01:27:20 PM:
> kmradke@rockwellcollins.com writes:
> > I guess we just need a little more documentation then. At the very
> > least a link from hacking to the trademark-policy for people like me
:)
>
> Write the patch and I'll apply it :-).
I knew you were going to say that... :)
(See separate email)
Kevin R.
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Re: Proposal for customized builds
Posted by Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com>.
kmradke@rockwellcollins.com writes:
> I guess we just need a little more documentation then. At the very
> least a link from hacking to the trademark-policy for people like me :)
Write the patch and I'll apply it :-).
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Re: Proposal for customized builds
Posted by km...@rockwellcollins.com.
Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com> wrote on 08/08/2008 12:16:39 PM:
> kmradke@rockwellcollins.com writes:
> > Ok, I'll bite and start a new thread (as suggested by Karl)...
> >
> > Some open source projects have documented guidelines on
> > releasing "customized builds" of their open source software.
> >
> > In order to preserve the integrity of the Subversion name,
> > I suggest some rules be put in place to help people
> > continue the great tradition.
> >
> > There doesn't appear to be anything in the hacking guide,
> > but I think this type of information would fit there.
>
> I understand the spirit in which you're proposing this, but... is it
> maybe solving a non-problem? We haven't had a lot of confusion over
> custom binaries, and what little confusion we have had has been easily
> cleared up. We also have trademark guidelines at
>
> http://subversion.org/legal/trademark-policy.html
Yeah, I just noticed this link after you posted it to @users. It does
fill most of what I was asking for (from a legal standpoint).
> and we have enforced them, but that enforcement has usually been about
> marketing materials and such, not about custom binaries -- precisely
> because we haven't seen much identity confusion around custom binaries.
>
> I do agree with the recommendations you make below. But so far, all the
> intended audience seems to already be aware of these recommendations and
> to be following them...
>
> > While open source is all about freedom, I do believe
> > it is reasonable to be able to restrict usage of the
> > name and versioning numbers in nonstandard releases...
>
> Yep; that's trademark law, unrelated to copyright law, and it exists
> precisely to prevent identity confusion. The Subversion project uses
> trademark law in the same way many open source projects do. There is no
> contradiction with the principles of open source here.
I guess we just need a little more documentation then. At the very
least a link from hacking to the trademark-policy for people like me :)
Kevin R.
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