[opensource-dev] Moving forward with open development

Aleric Inglewood aleric.inglewood at gmail.com
Mon Mar 22 05:02:10 PDT 2010


On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 10:41 PM, Dzonatas Sol <dzonatas at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ambroff Linden wrote:
> > I don't know if this is true or not, but regardless, copyright
> > assignment helps Linden enforce the GPL, which is good for everyone.
> > That's why the FSF was also used as an example.
> >
> > -Ambroff
>

That is the ONLY reason that I didn't think about it too long, since I know
that the FSF requires a signature for copyright assignment too, IN ORDER
TO enforce the GPL in court (since only the copyright holder can do that).

It would be totally not-done to then take my code and release it under
a non-GPL license, most specifically, to release binaries without the
ability for users to get the source code. That is why I got so upset
when it was in the air if the official viewer would be closed again.
I'm glad that this is clear now and that those parts that can legally
be designed in the open are going to be, even.


> Yes, a simple copyright assignment would be easier then a Contributor
> Agreement:
>
> 1) Programmer A submits a patch under GPL to the GPL source.
> 2) Programmer A makes sure patch is copyrighted by LL (copyright
> assignment done).
>

You need to physically sign something to make that legally binding,
I think (at least that is what the FSF says).


> 3) LL applies patch and continues to distribute as usual by GPL.
>

Well... they also want to be able to take it back into their
mainviewer, which for some reason seems to need to
link with or use proprietary code, and therefore can't
be released under the GPL. This being legacy from before
making the viewer (partly) GPL is morally acceptable,
as long as every time as much as possible is made
open again.

If possible, we should get rid of all this proprietary code
however (for example, there is absolutely no reason to
use libfmod anymore).

Aleric
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