Legal document - was: Re: [GRASS-PSC] Request: CVS Write Access to Serena Pallecchi

[Markus Neteler]

On 11/28/06, Brad Douglas <rez at touchofmadness.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-11-28 at 13:02 +1300, Hamish wrote:
> > Brad Douglas wrote:
> > > Looks good.  My only comment is to provide a physical address that is
> > > associated with GRASS.  This is probably required for legality, but
> > > specifically to allow copyright holders to remove themselves as stated
> > > in the new documents.
> > >
> > > I would suggest that the address correspond to the PSC lead.
> >
> >
> > GRASS> g.version -c
> > GRASS 6.3.cvs (2006)
> >
> > Copyright and License Statement
...
> > Questions regarding GRASS GIS should be directed to the
> > GRASS Development Team at the following address:
> >
> >  GRASS Development Team
> >  ITC-Irst
> >  c/o M. Neteler
> >  SSI/MPA
> >  Via Sommarive, 18
> >  38050 Trento (Povo)
> >  Italy
> >  neteler at itc.it
>
> IMHO, this should be copied into documentation or at least referenced.

I have merged in Hamish's modified sentence and added the address
plus Web reference. See attached "grass_code_contribution_v3.txt'.

While I don't think that I am official PSC chair (am I?), I have added our
address here to save time to get the document done.

Please look at attached document again. If ok, we should upload it
to the GRASS-CVS and then tell the other developers about it for
their comments.

Best,
Markus
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Legal

GRASS developers have to keep the code base clear of improperly
contributed code. It is important to the GRASS users, developers and
the OSGeo foundation to avoid contributing any code to the project
without it being clearly licensed under the project license or a
compliant license. In this document, a "committer" is understood to be
a developer with write access to the GRASS source code repository.

Generally speaking, the key issues are that those individuals
providing code to be included in the GRASS repository understand that
the code will be released under the GPL >=2 license, and that the
person providing the code has the right to contribute the code.  In
order to verify this, the committer must have a clear understanding of
the license themselves. When committing 3rd party contributions, the
committer should verify the understanding unless the committer is very
comfortable that the contributor understands the license (for instance
frequent contributors).

If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work
time, as part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an
appropriate representative of the employer understand that the code
will be contributed under the GPL license. The arrangement should be
cleared with an authorized supervisor/manager, etc.

The code should be developed by the contributor, or the code should be
from a source which can be rightfully contributed such as from the
public domain, or from an open source project under a compatible
license.

All unusual situations need to be discussed and/or documented.

Committers should adhere to the following guidelines, and may be
personally legally liable for improperly contributing code to the
source repository:

* Make sure the contributor (and possibly employer) is aware of the
  contribution terms.

* Code coming from a source other than the contributor (such as
  adapted from another project) should be clearly marked as to the
  original source, copyright holders, license terms and so forth. This
  information can be in the file headers, but should also be added to
  the project licensing file if not exactly matching normal project
  licensing (grass/COPYRIGHT.txt).

* Existing copyright headers and license text should never be stripped
  from a file. If a copyright holder wishes to give up copyright they
  must do so in writing to the GRASS-PSC before copyright messages
  are removed. If license terms are changed, it has to be by agreement
  (written in email is ok) of the copyright holders.

* When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as
  substantial patches) the author/contributor should be added to the
  list of copyright holders for the file in the file header.

* If there is uncertainty about whether a change is proper to
  contribute to the code base, please seek more information from the
  project steering committee, other GRASS developers or the OSGeo
  foundation legal counsel.

Questions regarding GRASS GIS should be directed to the
GRASS Development Team at the following address:

Internet:
  http://grass.itc.it/impressum.html
  
Postal address:
 GRASS Development Team
 ITC-Irst
 c/o M. Neteler
 SSI/MPA
 Via Sommarive, 18
 38050 Trento (Povo), Italy
 neteler at itc.it