One-click copyright assignments?

One-click copyright assignments?

[Clément Pit-Claudel]

Hey emacs-devel,

Why is the copyright assignment process for GNU software more complex than other similar ones ?  I've contributed to various pieces of free software in the past, and in most cases (except for Apache) the assignment process was little more than a click of a button, possibly followed by an email.  For Emacs, on the other hand, one needs to send an email to emacs-devel to get an off-list copy of a text-based form, then send the completed form to assign@gnu, then wait for a PDF (which mentions a monetary transaction of $1 that never actually happens), then electronically sign the form using PGP (possibly with an entirely new PGP key), then email it back and wait for confirmation.

Is there anything specific to Emacs that requires the process to be this complicated?  For example, could the entire process not be automated?  Ideally new contributors would fill a web form on gnu.org/emacs, sign with their mouse at the bottom of that form, and confirm their email adress by clicking a link in an email.

The existing process could remain in place for e.g. company-wide assignments, but for the common case of applying a patch to an ELPA package, wouldn't this make things much nicer?  If this can't be done, then could we at least automate the part that generates the PDF form, and the part that checks the signature, so as to eliminate the copyright assignment delay?

Thanks!
Clément.

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Filipe Silva]

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This. I'm also curious to know why is the process so bureaucratic as it is
currently. Maybe there's a legal issue or something.

On Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 8:08 AM, Clément Pit-Claudel <cpitclaudel@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hey emacs-devel,
>
> Why is the copyright assignment process for GNU software more complex than
> other similar ones ?  I've contributed to various pieces of free software
> in the past, and in most cases (except for Apache) the assignment process
> was little more than a click of a button, possibly followed by an email.
> For Emacs, on the other hand, one needs to send an email to emacs-devel to
> get an off-list copy of a text-based form, then send the completed form to
> assign@gnu, then wait for a PDF (which mentions a monetary transaction of
> $1 that never actually happens), then electronically sign the form using
> PGP (possibly with an entirely new PGP key), then email it back and wait
> for confirmation.
>
> Is there anything specific to Emacs that requires the process to be this
> complicated?  For example, could the entire process not be automated?
> Ideally new contributors would fill a web form on gnu.org/emacs, sign
> with their mouse at the bottom of that form, and confirm their email adress
> by clicking a link in an email.
>
> The existing process could remain in place for e.g. company-wide
> assignments, but for the common case of applying a patch to an ELPA
> package, wouldn't this make things much nicer?  If this can't be done, then
> could we at least automate the part that generates the PDF form, and the
> part that checks the signature, so as to eliminate the copyright assignment
> delay?
>
> Thanks!
> Clément.
>
>

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Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Stefan Monnier]

> This.  I'm also curious to know why is the process so bureaucratic as it is
> currently.  Maybe there's a legal issue or something.

The FSF is fairly cautious (not sure what's the best translation for
"frileux") in this respect, indeed.  But I agree that several parts
could be streamlined without having too much impact on the legal side:
- turn the initial form into a web-form.
- make it so the web-form doesn't send an email to assign@gnu.org
  (i.e. to Donald who's already busy enough) but should instead
  automatically return the appropriate PDF.  I understand that in some
  cases, a human might be needed, but we should be able to arrange for
  the web-form to cover 99% of the needs.

Just doing that would be a significant improvement I think.  The user
can then immediately get the PDF, and sign it without any delay.
It would still have the delay to receive the signed PDF, check it,
etc... which involves a human (Donald again, AFAIK), but: one step at
a time.

This said, this is an FSF-issue, not specific to Emacs, so it would be
better to discuss it elsewhere.


        Stefan


> On Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 8:08 AM, Clément Pit-Claudel <cpitclaudel@gmail.com>
> wrote:

>> Hey emacs-devel,
>> 
>> Why is the copyright assignment process for GNU software more complex than
>> other similar ones ?  I've contributed to various pieces of free software
>> in the past, and in most cases (except for Apache) the assignment process
>> was little more than a click of a button, possibly followed by an email.
>> For Emacs, on the other hand, one needs to send an email to emacs-devel to
>> get an off-list copy of a text-based form, then send the completed form to
>> assign@gnu, then wait for a PDF (which mentions a monetary transaction of
>> $1 that never actually happens), then electronically sign the form using
>> PGP (possibly with an entirely new PGP key), then email it back and wait
>> for confirmation.
>> 
>> Is there anything specific to Emacs that requires the process to be this
>> complicated?  For example, could the entire process not be automated?
>> Ideally new contributors would fill a web form on gnu.org/emacs, sign
>> with their mouse at the bottom of that form, and confirm their email adress
>> by clicking a link in an email.
>> 
>> The existing process could remain in place for e.g. company-wide
>> assignments, but for the common case of applying a patch to an ELPA
>> package, wouldn't this make things much nicer?  If this can't be done, then
>> could we at least automate the part that generates the PDF form, and the
>> part that checks the signature, so as to eliminate the copyright assignment
>> delay?
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Clément.
>> 
>> 

RE: One-click copyright assignments?

[Drew Adams]

> The FSF is fairly cautious (not sure what's the best translation for
> "frileux")

Depends what you really mean.  Could be "careful", "heedful",
"sensitive", "skittish", "wary", "faint-hearted", "timid", or
"timorous", perhaps.

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Clément Pit-Claudel]

On 2017-03-12 13:44, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> - turn the initial form into a web-form.

Indeed, this should be easy.

> - make it so the web-form doesn't send an email to assign@gnu.org
>   (i.e. to Donald who's already busy enough) but should instead
>   automatically return the appropriate PDF.  I understand that in some
>   cases, a human might be needed, but we should be able to arrange for
>   the web-form to cover 99% of the needs.

That should be easy too :)

> Just doing that would be a significant improvement I think.  The user
> can then immediately get the PDF, and sign it without any delay.
> It would still have the delay to receive the signed PDF, check it,
> etc... which involves a human (Donald again, AFAIK), but: one step at
> a time.

Must it?  Can't the PGP signature on the PDF be manually validated?
(To be clear: I'm happy to contribute some code to make this happen, if needed)

> This said, this is an FSF-issue, not specific to Emacs, so it would be
> better to discuss it elsewhere.

Can you indicate what the proper mailing list would be (noting that there is significant incentive for Emacs as a project to fix this issue, since we have a very large number of people writing ELisp code but not contributing it to Emacs — in part, I'm sure, due to copyright-related hurdles).

Cheers,
Clément.

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Stefan Monnier]

>> Just doing that would be a significant improvement I think.  The user
>> can then immediately get the PDF, and sign it without any delay.
>> It would still have the delay to receive the signed PDF, check it,
>> etc... which involves a human (Donald again, AFAIK), but: one step at
>> a time.
> Must it?  Can't the PGP signature on the PDF be manually validated?

Technically, when the process can be done without actual paper, maybe
it's possible, I don't know (hell, I don't even know if uses PGP).
I just assume this part is more delicate to modify because that's where
the "legal validity" checks would happen.

>> This said, this is an FSF-issue, not specific to Emacs, so it would be
>> better to discuss it elsewhere.
> Can you indicate what the proper mailing list would be (noting that there is

Maybe gnu-prog-discuss@gnu.org (mailing of maintainers of GNU packages)?
Tho you'd probably just get agreement from them, so maybe good to get
support but to get actual movement maybe it's better to send it to
assign@gnu.org and to rms@gnu.org?


        Stefan

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

We need to consult with lawyers about any change in this aspect of
things.  Changes are difficult.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org)
Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html.

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > - make it so the web-form doesn't send an email to assign@gnu.org
  >   (i.e. to Donald who's already busy enough) but should instead
  >   automatically return the appropriate PDF.  I understand that in some
  >   cases, a human might be needed, but we should be able to arrange for
  >   the web-form to cover 99% of the needs.

To implement this would require a volunteer who is very reliable
and could work under Donald's direction.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org)
Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html.

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Stefan Monnier]

>> - make it so the web-form doesn't send an email to assign@gnu.org
>> (i.e. to Donald who's already busy enough) but should instead
>> automatically return the appropriate PDF.  I understand that in some
>> cases, a human might be needed, but we should be able to arrange for
>> the web-form to cover 99% of the needs.

> To implement this would require a volunteer who is very reliable
> and could work under Donald's direction.

But before that step there's another step: setup a web-form.
This web-form could send an email to assign@gnu.org, so it wouldn't
involve any real change to the process, other than advertising the
copyright-assignment process a bit more (and potentially help the
author give well-structured details since the web-form can enforce more
structure than an email).


        Stefan

Re: One-click copyright assignments?

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > But before that step there's another step: setup a web-form.
  > This web-form could send an email to assign@gnu.org, so it wouldn't
  > involve any real change to the process,

It sounds like a good idea.  Would someone like to volunteer to do the work,
then write to licensing@gnu.org about it?

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org)
Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html.