From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Stefan Kangas Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Drop the Copyright Assignment requirement for Emacs Date: Fri, 8 May 2020 09:28:37 -0400 Message-ID: References: <9mmFgzvrBwjt_n_VJyaJdXINraNi5HsGpwq-0MLeKiJA7kG2BQA4uywrzjyz7lpRS0OZDpjEi8lspOKYUA7P_QsODsDew_8nbH960G55fmY=@protonmail.com> <97DA7804-F647-4A1D-B8E0-AFFE7A324C64@gmail.com> <87d07xamrg.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> <878silajdl.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> <87tv18pyh4.fsf@russet.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="22156"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: eric@ericabrahamsen.net, casouri@gmail.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org, phillip.lord@russet.org.uk, ndame@protonmail.com To: rms@gnu.org, Stefan Monnier Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Fri May 08 15:29:14 2020 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 1jX33x-0005cD-LU for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 08 May 2020 15:29:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:33450 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jX33w-0002CP-LJ for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 08 May 2020 09:29:12 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:33904) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jX33Q-0001Tg-AQ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2020 09:28:40 -0400 Original-Received: from mail-yb1-xb2f.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4864:20::b2f]:46534) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:128) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jX33P-00020q-B2; Fri, 08 May 2020 09:28:39 -0400 Original-Received: by mail-yb1-xb2f.google.com with SMTP id v9so910086ybq.13; Fri, 08 May 2020 06:28:38 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=from:in-reply-to:references:mime-version:date:message-id:subject:to :cc; bh=0LIgUncWJlaRdqgdvR1bgvv+HrNWIT8FgW+qIwlop14=; b=r97c0zlTMLOndMBrGSdAOV4+7VWM4YF5NdvZPOkSm8TQCVYxPE0oNqhNaX33oXBM7t zLtBX/po/1kNHvJwdY0LYNnyBfs5p2xR3gNyuxTUeBeXtCV8DxtI1RDQQay0226Ou9j9 fqc5AwESdOKgs4LuYrNpc84bKNuZGh1ff22AgW+EacIktskc8AiNRt1hgszASwXoyrDr /KOIal/i9Na6RBpZRpML/KMtlRw5eVdn+plpP4d1y3wfpBWy6kdwdUK+z3sAZqvSuEW5 u/x9W9yQ5sVHQPXwGwhvx2Z+RKyXxjUiq76kGYwy40XaLpZivoqhhX/BXhEwRJmK2BIQ ICHg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:from:in-reply-to:references:mime-version:date :message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=0LIgUncWJlaRdqgdvR1bgvv+HrNWIT8FgW+qIwlop14=; b=aNqMeVS34rqcafDMGMlB5H+fpBTcucYshcRLY1uo9aWq8UqpnMP+57T8FMfe3bDgfX FNF4awZ7VDv/zP0/uCR+3dRCJsrBezGM8FLTRiFwr2LmtqqyKaV7YYWNlHMr0M4xTXJi BIVOgxp0YeEUZT00vYEdBlt7bI+hibvigkM4tLZP/JqGv+EfaLTzRLhYilRAZ01YbnU6 EMGFW9dlT+/G00J6V2XeGo7f/54I/OWHN0J2EQHv/Y13OEpgEUWLudtbSnEUxgFs0Alv zPbeP9PJlxK28osg2ge61Jdy6NCeSMhsOU5EuGBxGF+2a04dYIiWiEKgeADcq8G4GIm3 eMRw== X-Gm-Message-State: AGi0PuaLA51Ksu5Lh4Tp2aUFuA9KkWiRzQvQEgEooL5Xy1t+rpd8YGIb roak1MmkX2V7uaGnae+PoDKxzyGKygDJ3k8STKfecA== X-Google-Smtp-Source: APiQypJFbzxu/CLQAFFieJ+zEmSwOIWsK+bJDqrJMxGgLXk+mVwn2SdplZvAr31bbMzFgmxay62K7hwkPLoI8kX5riY= X-Received: by 2002:a25:bb08:: with SMTP id z8mr4793694ybg.129.1588944517678; Fri, 08 May 2020 06:28:37 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: from 753933720722 named unknown by gmailapi.google.com with HTTPREST; Fri, 8 May 2020 09:28:37 -0400 In-Reply-To: Received-SPF: pass client-ip=2607:f8b0:4864:20::b2f; envelope-from=stefankangas@gmail.com; helo=mail-yb1-xb2f.google.com X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: No matching host in p0f cache. That's all we know. X-Spam_score_int: -20 X-Spam_score: -2.1 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.1 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE=-0.0001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, UNPARSEABLE_RELAY=0.001, URIBL_BLOCKED=0.001 autolearn=_AUTOLEARN X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 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:249275 Archived-At: Richard Stallman writes: > We will continue obtaining copyright assignments > unless we get legal and practical advice that we can stop. Legal considerations are important, yes, but there are other considerations too. There is real damage being done to Emacs today, by excluding code and packages that we really should have in either Emacs core or ELPA. The question is: - How to effectively enforce the GPL without actively damaging Emacs? We have one answer to that, and it's been the same since the 1980's. Legal experts are supposedly telling us that we need assignments. But is that the whole story? To quote the post by Bradley M. Kuhn from before: "I'm the only person in the world who is involved with both Software Freedom Conservancy and the FSF, and I've also likely spent more time on GPL enforcement than anyone on the planet, so I feel I have some authority to speak on that subject." [1] So he is clearly qualified, no? And what is _his_ expert opinion? "... Conservancy's GPL compliance work has shown that enforcement is possible in a multi-copyright-held project. I do that every single day." In other words, he claims that it is fine, specifically from the standpoint of GPL enforcement, to be a "multi-copyright-held project". (In fact, he says later in the post that he prefers that model.) So we have, at the very least, _conflicting_ advice from the experts. So who should we listen to? Well, Bradley M. Kuhn takes a balanced view, and the above paragraph continues: "But, there is no question that the work is easier if the non-profit that seeks to enforce holds an /overwhelming majority/ of the copyrights." (my emphasis) Now, this is very interesting. And it points to a solution: 1. Allow contributions without assignments. 2. Actively encourage every contributor to sign the assignment. This is a very conservative compromise that ensures that we can both enforce the GPL effectively, _and_ ensure that Emacs prospers. Best regards, Stefan Kangas Footnotes: [1] https://lwn.net/Articles/530239/