Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Bhutani Meeta-W19091]

 
Motorola would like to understand if kernel.org has a contributor
agreement (or a copyright assignment agreement) that is posted somewhere
? We are investigating what would be needed from a legal standpoint to
possibly contribute in the future.
 
Thanks & Regards
Meeta Bhutani

Re: Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Giacomo A. Catenazzi]

Bhutani Meeta-W19091 wrote:
>  
> Motorola would like to understand if kernel.org has a contributor
> agreement (or a copyright assignment agreement) that is posted somewhere
> ? We are investigating what would be needed from a legal standpoint to
> possibly contribute in the future.

For "kernel.org" you mean linux kernel?

In this case: no copyright assignment is required.

The changes should be compatible with GPL v2
(as you will find i.e. in http://lxr.linux.no/source/COPYING )

You should confirm the:
"Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1".
This is in Documentation/SubmittingPatches
( http://lxr.linux.no/source/Documentation/SubmittingPatches )

Note: IANAL, and I don't speak for other contributors ;-)

ciao
	cate

PS: there is already a copyrighted file by motorola:
include/net/sctp/constants.h
( http://lxr.linux.no/source/include/net/sctp/constants.h )

Re: Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Paolo Ornati]

On Wed, 16 May 2007 10:59:49 -0400
"Bhutani Meeta-W19091" <Meeta.Bhutani@motorola.com> wrote:

>  
> Motorola would like to understand if kernel.org has a contributor
> agreement (or a copyright assignment agreement) that is posted somewhere
> ? We are investigating what would be needed from a legal standpoint to
> possibly contribute in the future.

maybe this helps:

http://groups.google.com/group/linux.kernel/browse_thread/thread/21d472915541ac48/5a2d152a1d1b62b6?lnk=st&q=&rnum=3&hl=en#5a2d152a1d1b62b6

:)

-- 
	Paolo Ornati
	Linux 2.6.21.1-cfs-v12-gd805260d on x86_64

Re: Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Adrian Bunk]

On Wed, May 16, 2007 at 10:59:49AM -0400, Bhutani Meeta-W19091 wrote:
>  
> Motorola would like to understand if kernel.org has a contributor
> agreement (or a copyright assignment agreement) that is posted somewhere
> ? We are investigating what would be needed from a legal standpoint to
> possibly contribute in the future.

>From a legal standpoint, all Motorola has to do is to release the code 
under the terms of the GPL version 2.

Motorola (or whoever else has it) retains the copyright of the code and 
can even licence this code to other people under different terms. [1]

The mentioned "Developer's Certificate of Origin" only describes a 
formalized way to express that the code is available under the terms of 
the GPL and that you agree that the metadata will be stored 
indefinitely. Nothing interesting from a standpoint, and since you'll 
hopefully read Documentation/SubmittingPatches before submitting your 
code, you'll anyway see it when you need it.

> Thanks & Regards
> Meeta Bhutani

Hope this helps, and thanks in advance for your contributions
Adrian

[1] but after published under the GPL, it will be available under the 
    terms of the GPL forever for both the Linux kernel and other 
    projects

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

Re: Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Jesper Juhl]

On 16/05/07, Bhutani Meeta-W19091 <Meeta.Bhutani@motorola.com> wrote:
>
> Motorola would like to understand if kernel.org has a contributor
> agreement (or a copyright assignment agreement) that is posted somewhere
> ?
As far as I know, no.

> We are investigating what would be needed from a legal standpoint to
> possibly contribute in the future.
>
I am not a lawyer, but my personal understanding is this:

1. Any code you contribute has to be licensed under the GNU GPL v2
(preferably) or a different, but 100% compatible, license (usually
acceptable).
For the text of the GNU GPL v2, please see the file "COPYING" in the
root of the kernel source tree.
For a list of other Open Source licenses, see
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/category (note: GPLv2 is strongly
prefered)

2. When submitting your code, please include Signed-off-by: lines as
pr Section 11 in Documentation/SubmittingPatches

3. Make sure your patches adhere to the guidelines laid out in
Documentation/CodingStyle (unless a specific maintainer tells you
otherwise)


A good place to start when looking for info is  Documentation/HOWTO.

A few quotes from Documentation/HOWTO that seem relevant (please do
read the document in full yourself for the full story - this is a good
starting point) can be found below;

"
...
It contains instructions on how to become a Linux kernel developer and
how to learn
to work with the Linux kernel development community.
...
Legal Issues
------------

The Linux kernel source code is released under the GPL.  Please see the
file, COPYING, in the main directory of the source tree, for details on
the license.  If you have further questions about the license, please
contact a lawyer, and do not ask on the Linux kernel mailing list.  The
people on the mailing lists are not lawyers, and you should not rely on
their statements on legal matters.
...
"

Various other documents that are worth reading in the kernel source :

README
Documentation/SubmitChecklist
Documentation/SubmittingDrivers
Documentation/SubmittingPatches
Documentation/Changes

There are many more documents in the Documentation/ directory that are
worth reading as well...


Looking forward to your contributions.


-- 
Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com>
Don't top-post  http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/top-post.html
Plain text mails only, please      http://www.expita.com/nomime.html

Re: Contributor Agreement/Copyright Assignment

[Rik van Riel]

Jesper Juhl wrote:

> Various other documents that are worth reading in the kernel source :

I have also compiled some helpful hints on how to get
source code accepted into the upstream kernel:

http://kernelnewbies.org/UpstreamMerge

The kernel-mentors mailing list is another useful
resource you can consult.

-- 
Politics is the struggle between those who want to make their country
the best in the world, and those who believe it already is.  Each group
calls the other unpatriotic.