Subject: Re: A few contributor's questions

From: Jonathan Nieder <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:48:42 -0800

Hi,

David Kastrup wrote:

> Also whether or not this implies an assignment of copyright, it is a
> reasonable assumption for
[...]

Since I think we've completely gone off the rails:

I assume the problem you're trying to solve is that files don't have
clear enough notices of their licensing.  That could be a real problem
for people using the code, since if you no one gave you a license then
you don't have a license at all.  It's also a problem in that it makes
it harder to interpret the phrase "under the same open source license"
(though I have no idea how that could be read as "I give up my
copyright completely").

The way git currently works in that area is the same as the Linux
kernel:

 * the code is copyright by the authors and we try not to waste fuss
   on maintaining a comprehensive list in notices.  If you want to
   find the authors to negotiate special licensing, you get to do the
   work.

 * license is GPLv2-only where not otherwise specified

 * relicensing, when needed, happens by contacting all the copyright
   holders and getting their consent

I don't see anything weird about that.  But people using the code
might like clearer notices, so I personally would not mind an extra
line in most files stating the license.  (More than that and it
becomes absurd.)  That's all just my opinion --- Junio might think
differently, etc.

[...]
> It's verbose and cumbersome enough that I would not have been surprised
> if there'd be an established way of getting this information on record,
> preferably per-project rather than per-commit.

For relicensing the existing practice is to just contact people.  That
has the advantage that I can make a decision about whether to allow
relicensing code I've written in the context of how I expect it to be
used.  I expect that if you had a stance on GPLv2+ licensing of
contributions to git published in some place easily found by search
engines (for example a message on the mailing list), interested people
would not have too much trouble finding it when the time comes.

Hope that helps,
Jonathan