Commiter Legal Guidelines

[Frank Warmerdam]

Folks,

I promised at the last meeting to draft a potential template text
for legal guidelines to commiters on OSGeo projects.  Something that
could be included in commiter guidelines for the different projects.

I wrote up the following, found in the "Legal" section of the recently
adopted GDAL/OGR commiter guidelines.

   http://www.gdal.org/rfc3_commiters.html

I'd appreciate some feedback.  If folks feel they are adequate I will
term them into a template - parameterizing the project name and license.

--
LEGAL

Commiters are the front line gatekeepers to keep the code base clear of
improperly contributed code.  It is important to the GDAL/OGR users,
developers and the OSGeo foundation to avoid contributing any code to
the project without it being clearly licensed under the project license.

Generally speaking the key issues are that those providing code to be
included in the repository understand that the code will be released under
the MIT/X license, and that the person providing the code has the right
to contribute the code.  For the commiter themselves understanding about
the license is hopefully clear.  For other contributors, the commiter
should verify the understanding unless the commiter 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 MIT/X 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.

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

<ul>
<li> Make sure the contributor (and possibly employer) is aware of the
contribution terms.
<li> 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 (gdal/LICENSE.txt).
<li> 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 foundation 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.
<li> 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.
<li> If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute
to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering
committee, or the foundation legal counsel.
</ul>

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org