From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: On Contributing To Emacs Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2021 13:51:49 +0200 Message-ID: <83k0fmia3u.fsf@gnu.org> References: <87k0fn8od1.fsf@gnus.org> <83y242ip0a.fsf@gnu.org> Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="37628"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: larsi@gnus.org, akira@akirakyle.com, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Stefan Kangas Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Dec 30 12:52:36 2021 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1n2tz1-0009ZM-IR for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 12:52:35 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:44070 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1n2tz0-0005ka-2I for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:52:34 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.92]:45474) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1n2tyI-0004yZ-E4 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:51:50 -0500 Original-Received: from [2001:470:142:3::e] (port=41988 helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1n2tyH-0000O9-LF; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:51:49 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gnu.org; s=fencepost-gnu-org; h=References:Subject:In-Reply-To:To:From:Date: mime-version; bh=gjaVbLMxwrvnlJHYIX7bZ/eA8NRnDPpFrruJtoo6w5w=; b=OrOqHx1pP2Xv OwSPb/Kg8ZltXH1DalIfHqbXrMotVJk6DOGMtMy1tIRy6NbLsN8zBPJ9eHrrZOKg/4YmFpaU+Qtsy 792ItVxwnifnRjaVaQjrMJhARZVBwKe9Q0FHaYINw2eRUzIvF7wvoOOvC4f5tARuetI9EpgozN83N XylBM4aq5bmyp+iJbpJLVM7+76BcnijoJJ5nJSW4pu+zAloy4QRDP2CYlh+M1Smr0CJkhFbzvttD/ +enI32Ecqy42UiBqcXeT+q5AxIfFIbr/7FwdgTV3Z/NKPPK+Sk56kT/u05eaXpeGq7yT3S8N7VBQl DDYCa9Rfa/RN4Zadg75d0Q==; Original-Received: from [87.69.77.57] (port=4051 helo=home-c4e4a596f7) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1n2tyD-0002N2-JP; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:51:45 -0500 In-Reply-To: (message from Stefan Kangas on Thu, 30 Dec 2021 05:27:31 -0500) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:283646 Archived-At: > From: Stefan Kangas > Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2021 05:27:31 -0500 > Cc: larsi@gnus.org, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org > > > Saying "it's a shame" that assignment process is needed and is in some > > cases legally complicated is like blaming the traffic lights for > > turning red at times. It's not the traffic light that should be > > blamed, it's the chaos that would ensue if the traffic laws were not > > in place and enforced. > > The copyright assignment requirement is not forced on us by external > factors. With few exceptions, the rest of the free software world lives > happily without it. Emacs *choose* to use it in the hope that it will > give some legal advantages in a future GPL violation case. > > Whether or not that will be needed in such a trial is anybody's guess > (including the FSF lawyers, BTW, so they keep insisting) but I note that > there are several GPL violation cases that have been quite successful > without it. > > Glibc and GCC have recently moved to use a DCO instead. I think we > should follow their lead: > > https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Contribution%20checklist#Copyright_and_license This is a horse that has been beaten to death. The problems with the DCO are well-known and documented. The projects that switched to it are gambling their future on what they believe is "good enough" without any proof, like a driver that crosses on red light because he sees no other vehicle coming. This is a tangent, so please continue discussing it on emacs-tangents, not here.