taskSavannah Administration - Tasks: task #10260, Submission of GPSD

 
 

task #10260: Submission of GPSD

Submitter:  Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Submitted:  Thu 11 Mar 2010 08:28:29 PM UTC
   
 
Should Start On:  Thu 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 AM UTC Should be Finished on:  Sun 21 Mar 2010 04:00:00 AM UTC
Category:  Project Approval Priority:  * 5 - Normal
Status:  Done Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  Beuc Open/Closed:  Closed
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Thu 08 Apr 2010 08:28:56 PM UTC, comment #15: 

Hi,

Sorry for the delay (mostly mine).

The conclusion of the legal team is that it's ok to include "a generally known alternative designation of the owner" in the copyright notice, although "this kind of notice could make it more difficult to prove in court that any infringement was willful -- which would in turn make it difficult to obtain statutory damages for the infringement", hence we don't recommend it.

I approved your project, you'll receive a mail confirmation shortly :)

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 10:36:05 PM UTC, comment #14: 


>Did you receive the mail I sent to -email is unavailable-


I did not.

>If you can't explain something publicly then it cannot be part of a Savannah decision.


What I can't explain publicly is why your reference to SCO was hilarious.  It has little to do with the substance of the discussion.

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 09:24:09 PM UTC, comment #13: 

We only accept projects with valid copyright information.

Did you receive the mail I sent to -email is unavailable- - it looks like you're just finding out about it.

If you can't explain something publicly then it cannot be part of a Savannah decision.

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 09:10:43 PM UTC, comment #12: 


>when we get their answer we'll be able to decide on the submission.


What the heck does the FSF's legal team have to do with any of this, and why do they get any say in how I do my copyrights?  It's not like errors there create any liability for any of you; it's strictly my project's problem if I've screwed up.

I accept that Savannah has standards about which licenses you'll accept and lack of proprietary dependencies; those are worthwhile and have a purpose.  It is fine if you want to advise me on what you think best copyright practice to protect my project is.  But enforcing your idea of best practice when I don't agree with it is over the line into offensive meddling.

>You can share your thoughts here.


No I can't.  You'll find out why when we can talk somewhere that isn't logged.

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 07:07:01 PM UTC, comment #11: 

Mario: please don't comment on submissions reviewed by other people :)

Eric, Mario: you're in Cc: of the request I sent to the legal team, when we get their answer we'll be able to decide on the submission.

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 06:12:28 PM UTC, comment #10: 


>Why you simply don't put the list of copyright holders and

years in each file?.

Because not everyone holds copyright in every file. I don't think it would be right for me to assert an individual copyright on code that isn't mine. (Compilation copyright is a different matter with a different meaning.)

>The OSI is about open source, true?...


Irrelevant. Whatever the philosophical difference between "open source" and "free software" might be it has no bearing on the factual question of whether collecting copyright assignments might prejudice a future court case.

This discussion is wandering into theology and pointlessness. If this project doesn't qualify as free software, tell me why it doesn't.  Otherwise please approve it so we can stop wasting each others' time.  I know the law of my jurisdiction better than you do and you're not protecting either FSF or the GPSD project by quibbling with how GPSD's copyrights are done.


Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sun 14 Mar 2010 05:06:45 PM UTC, comment #9: 

+noformat+
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

March 14th 2010 in GNU Savannah task #10260: "Submission of GPSD"

Hi all.

Erick: Why you simply don't put the list of copyright holders and
years in each file?.  If there is a good reason we can discuss it here
and reach a good solution.

>(About copyright collecting) OSI debated recommending this practice
>in 2003 [...]


The OSI is about open source, true?.  GNU project isn't about open
source, but free software (See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html).
When a organization says some thing about open source, it may or may
not apply to free software, because they are differents set of
project, and different philosophy.

Also, please note that the software here hosted must call itself free
software, and refer to the GNU/Linux OS as such (Is in the
requirements agreed when registring a project in the "I agree with the
hosting requirements" check box:
https://savannah.gnu.org/register/requirements.php).  When you say
"Linux-based smartphones" are you talking about the kernel, correct?.

BTW, I don't think that "Worrying about copyright enforcement is
pretty silly under a BSD license" is silly, specifically if the clause
3 "The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this software without specific prior written
permission."  is violated.  Some Copyright holders not care about
violations of their Copyright, but that don't makes copyright
enforcement silly IMO.
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Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEAREIAAYFAkudF7AACgkQZ4DA0TLic4jQ/gCfSKhxyoWh/kXGmPmUGHBm4412
NVcAnjZpRPM0/4vTgxZkFIJldejLmWdM
=eqzM
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-noformat-

Mario Castelán Castro <marioxcc>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 10:53:54 AM UTC, comment #8: 


> Heh. Find me on #gna sometime and I'll explain why that was
> about the most ironically funny thing you could have said.


You can share your thoughts here.

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 10:31:51 AM UTC, comment #7: 


>This sounds so pre-SCO area ;)


Heh. Find me on #gna sometime and I'll explain why that was about the most ironically funny thing you could have said.  No joke.  I mean, you'll think it's hilarious, but I'm not joking at all.

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 10:04:18 AM UTC, comment #6: 

I've put copyrights ij the test data as requested.

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 09:17:36 AM UTC, comment #5: 


> OSI debated recommending this practice [...]


Hmm, this will require a check by the FSF legal team.


> Worrying about copyright enforcement is pretty silly
> under a BSD license, anyway.


This sounds so pre-SCO area ;)

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 09:03:58 AM UTC, comment #4: 


>Do you collect copyright assignments?


No. OSI debated recommending this practice in 2003, but we decided on advice of counsel that the better legal posture is to maintain that the act of contributing to an open-source project  constitutes an irrevocable grant to distribute under the project license. Under U.S. common law relating to estoppel due to unclean hands, this would be difficult to argue against - whereas if community practice were to require copyright assignments we might undermine the argument for implicit grant.

Thus, I'm actually opposed to collecting copyright assignments, and I think it's a good thing the community has largely rejected the practice. I know FSF likes to do it, and I understand their tactical reasons, and I gave them my general release many years ago, but I think it's a strategic mistake.

>Otherwise you are not entitled to enforce the copyright in court.


I'm not entitled to enforce a copyright by any other person, but I do have standing if I hold the copyrights for the project. At least in the U.S., courts aren't picky about fictive-person status unless a limitation on liability is being claimed.

Worrying about copyright enforcement is pretty silly under a BSD license, anyway.

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 08:28:04 AM UTC, comment #3: 


> I'll add a note to "COPYING" that copyrights held by the
> "GPSD project" are administered by the project leader,
> and give my name as project leader.


Do you collect copyright assignments?
Otherwise you are not entitled to enforce the copyright in court.

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Sat 13 Mar 2010 08:21:59 AM UTC, comment #2: 

I'll put license reference headers on the test file.

I'll add a note to "COPYING" that copyrights held by the "GPSD project" are administered by the project leader, and give my name as project leader.

What's our next step?

Eric S. Raymond <esr>
Fri 12 Mar 2010 10:33:08 PM UTC, comment #1: 

Hi,

A lot of files are "Copyright (c) 20XX by the GPSD project".  Is this a moral person that can hold copyright?  Otherwise it's better to have the name of the actual copyright holders (e.g. who can sue in case of copyright infrightment).

It would also be nice to precise the licensing of the test data.

Sylvain Beucler <Beuc>
Thu 11 Mar 2010 08:28:29 PM UTC, original submission:  

A new project has been registered at Savannah
This project account will remain inactive until a site admin approves or discards the registration.


Registration Administration


While this item will be useful to track the registration process, approving or discarding the registration must be done using the specific Group Administration page, accessible only to site administrators, effectively logged as site administrators (superuser):



Registration Details


  • Name: GPSD
  • System Name:  gpsd
  • Type: non-GNU software & documentation
  • License: Modified BSD License (MIT License

ISC License
)




Description:

The GPSD project maintains a service daemon that interprets input from GPS and AIS sensors, digests and cleans up the data, and serves it via TCP/IP sockets to subscribing applications.

Written in C with Python support tools and bindings.

This project has a seven-year history and is extremely widely deployed on laptops, in embedded systems and on Linux-based smartphones. In 2009 it received the first Good Code Grant from the Alliance for Code Excellence.


Other Software Required:

Normal C and Python toolchains only


Other Comments:

We've been hosted on Berlios since 2004 but no longer trust that site; also we want to be able to use git.



Tarball URL:

http://savannah.gnu.org/submissions_uploads/gpsd-2.93dev.tar.gz


Eric S. Raymond <esr>

 

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    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2010-04-08 Beuc StatusNone Done
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2010-03-12 Beuc Assigned toNone Beuc

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