Re: Signed-off-by and aliases

[Loic Dachary <loic@dachary.org>]

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Hi Alex,

On 17/08/2015 22:19, Alex Elsayed wrote:
> Loic Dachary wrote:
> 
>> Hi Joao,
> <snipping quite a bit>
> 
>> It is quite impossible for us (non lawyers) to draw the line that
>> separates paranoïa and common sense. Reason why most discussions on these
>> topics turn short. I cannot dismiss the scenario you describe and I'm
>> quite sure asking a lawyer would not clarify anything. Mostly because
>> whatever the question, the lawyer answer will always be : "maybe" and
>> never "yes" or "no" ;-)

That reminds me of an amusing talk in the FOSDEM legal track a few years back, specifically on that topic :-)

<snip>--<snip>

>> So, how can one make an opinion on a topic (s)he does not fully understand
>> ? I chose to decide based on facts I have and favor what give us (the Ceph
>> project community) more flexibility. I don't think anyone has any fact
>> regarding legal troubles related to contributor using aliases. And since
>> we don't verify contributor backgrounds anyway, acknowledging that we
>> already accept aliases makes sense to me.
> 
> This is where I see a subtle, but meaningful distinction: Accepting from 
> aliases *which have submitted a DCO* means that the person behind the alias, 
> even if we don't know their name, has bound themselves to a standard ov 
> behavior.
> 
> Accepting from arbitrary aliases does _not_ carry that meaning.

Yes. Although we don't do formal background checks, we make sure that each commit is Signed-off-by: the author as required by https://github.com/ceph/ceph/blob/master/SubmittingPatches#L22 which is linked from the https://github.com/ceph/ceph/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.rst document that shows whenever someone submits a pull request.

I also believe this is an important distinction and I would feel uncomfortable if Ceph accepted contributions (aliases or not) that are not Signed-off one way or the other.

Cheers

> 
>> The value of this thread is more about how we collectively form a
>> consensus on a topic that has legal implications than the question of
>> accepting aliases or not. As Greg mentioned, all developers/organizations
>> holding a significant part of the Ceph copyright know each other. Whatever
>> is decided regarding aliases, it is not going to have any actual legal
>> impact. But it would be great if we can somehow come up with a consensus.
>> Ultimately the decision is not for us to make anyway: we're not a
>> democracy. But it's not because a community has no power to decide that it
>> must not have an opinion ;-)
> 
> Entirely agreed.
> 
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-- 
Loïc Dachary, Artisan Logiciel Libre


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