Re: copyright issues and derivative work (the case of matlab-mode)

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com>
> Cc: rms@gnu.org,  oub@mat.ucm.es,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2021 16:14:47 +0800
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> Perhaps we should send a message about this point
> >> to each person with commit access.  Our committers would more
> >> reliably do it, with this reminder.
> 
> FWIW, I have heard that `git am' will do this automatically.

Only if the patch was formatted with "git format-patch".  Which is why
we prefer that, see below.

> Perhaps it would be a good idea to suggest people to always use `git am'
> to install changes made by others?

This is trivial for anyone who installs patches, and I very much doubt
that anyone doesn't use that already.  CONTRIBUTE hints on that:

  However, we prefer the 'git format-patch' method with attachment, as
  doing so delivers patches in the correct and easily-recognizable format
  more reliably, and makes the job of applying the patches easier and less
  error-prone.  It also allows sending patches whose author is someone
  other than the email sender.

Note the last sentence.  It doesn't mention "git am" because it is a
trivium, but it's clear it assumes that.

I don't think we should have a Git tutorial as part of Emacs; someone
who gets write access to the repository is supposed to be sufficiently
proficient in Git commands.  We don't explain too much about how to
push, either, for the same reason.

Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.