[GRASS5] FWD: [OSGeo-Discuss] Incubation Committee / Contributor Agreements]

[Hamish]

> a new FAQ has been written which explains things related
> to the proposed Contributor Agreements:
> 
>  http://www.fossgis.de/osgeo/index.php/Contributor_Agreement

reading that some things are clearer, some are not.

Two reactionary and probably non-constructive comments: (I prefer
solutions to complaints, but sometimes it feels good to complain)

1) As things are today, I don't want to share any of my copyright (ie
control of the code) with anyone other than "the GRASS development team".
Not to a group made up of people I mostly don't know with no established
track record. I am sure everyone on the board are wonderful people but
trust comes through personal observation, not reputation. I am sure it
is quite impossible to ever make modern GRASS non-GPL as to contact
everyone holding copyright or their surviving heirs is not practicable;
as is unwinding their contributions. So I am not very worried about a
license hijack here. What I am worried about, from a practical and "new
code" standpoint, is that if the power isn't held by the developers,
and decisions are made, even for non-malfeasant reasons, if these do not
align with the interests of the developers, then developers will walk
away quickly (unless well paid of course). This would quickly kill the
project. Control and recognition is an open source developer's capital-
we need to make very sure that by standing under the OSGeo banner we
don't stand in the shadow of it, and lose both.

I assign co-copyright of all my GRASS contributions to date to "the
GRASS development team", meaning I agree that it is up to the team
to decide what is best. If co-copyright on new code is assigned to
OSGeo, how do I assert G.D.T. decisions have priority over OSGeo w.r.t.
GRASS matters?


2) I don't like signing things. Rousseau's social contract not
withstanding, the benefit has to flow both ways. Am I concerned if a
non-contributing corporation can get ISO9000 certification while
depending on OSGeo software? Honestly?


I would advocate a go-slow approach. Call me the stick in the mud.

Interesting parallels with the for-the-users or for-the-developers
usability debates.



Hamish