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GCC copyright assignment instructions
- To: <gcc-patches at gcc dot gnu dot org>
- Subject: GCC copyright assignment instructions
- From: "Joseph S. Myers" <jsm28 at cam dot ac dot uk>
- Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 11:16:19 +0000 (GMT)
The GCC copy of the GNU assignment instructions is somewhat out of date
relative to the one on www.gnu.org. This patch carries over the
straightforward changes; OK to commit?
More complicated: the GNU procedures seem to have changed to involve the
completed form for signing being sent by the FSF to the contributor as the
normal case: (from the version on the GNU web site)
When you send a <TT>`request-'</TT> file, you don't need to fill
in anything before sending it. Just send the file verbatim to the
contributor. The file gives per instructions for how to ask the
FSF to mail per the papers to sign.
For less common cases, we have template files you should send to
the contributor. Be sure to fill in the name of the person and
the name of the program in these templates, where it says NAME OF
PERSON and NAME OF PROGRAM, before sending; otherwise person might
sign without noticing them, and the papers would be useless. Note
that in some templates there is more than one place to put the
name of the program or the name of the person; be sure to change
all of them.
If the GCC procedures are to be synchronised with the GNU ones, then the
forms in htdocs/fsf-forms would need to be updated to the current
collection of GNU forms (including the request- versions), and
assignment-instructions.html (which looks like it was taken from the top
of assign.changes) probably replaced with an updated set of instructions
for what should be done for GCC assignments - say, based on what's in
contribute.html and pointing to the request- forms.
Index: copyrights.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gcc/wwwdocs/htdocs/fsf-forms/copyrights.html,v
retrieving revision 1.7
diff -u -r1.7 copyrights.html
--- copyrights.html 2000/04/05 18:42:21 1.7
+++ copyrights.html 2000/10/30 11:02:28
@@ -1,41 +1,41 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
-<!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.49
- from standards/maintain.texi on 5 August 1997 -->
+<!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.54
+ from maintain.texi on 22 September 2000 -->
-<TITLE>Information For Maintainers of GNU Software - Copyrights - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE>
-<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:webmasters@www.gnu.ai.mit.edu">
+<TITLE>Information For Maintainers of GNU Software - Copyright Papers - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE>
+<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:webmasters@www.gnu.org">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#9900DD">
<blockquote>
<i>This file copied from <a
- href="http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/prep/maintain_toc.html">http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/prep/maintain_toc.html</a>
+ href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain_toc.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain_toc.html</a>
with a couple of links added.</i>
</blockquote>
-<H2>Copyrights</H2>
+<H2>Copyright Papers</H2>
<P>
-For the sake of registering the copyright on later versions of the
-software, you need to keep track of each person who makes significant
-changes. A change of ten lines or so, or a few such changes, in a
-large program is not significant.
+If you maintain an FSF-copyrighted package, then you should follow
+certain legal procedures when incorporating changes written by other
+people. This ensures that the FSF has the legal right to distribute the
+package, and the right to defend its free status in court if necessary.
</P>
<P>
-<STRONG>Before</STRONG> incorporating significant changes, make sure that person
-has signed copyright papers and that the Free Software Foundation has
-received and signed them.
+<STRONG>Before</STRONG> incorporating significant changes, make sure that the
+person who wrote the changes has signed copyright papers and that the
+Free Software Foundation has received and signed them.
</P>
<P>
To check whether papers have been received, look in
<TT>`/gd/gnuorg/copyright.list'</TT>. If you can't look there directly,
-<CODE>fsf-records@prep.ai.mit.edu</CODE> can check for you, and can also
-check for papers that are waiting to be entered and inform you
-when expected papers arrive.
+<A HREF="mailto:fsf-records@gnu.org"><TT>fsf-records@gnu.org</TT></A> can check for you. Our clerk can also
+check for papers that are waiting to be entered and inform you when
+expected papers arrive.
</P>
<P>
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
Would you be willing to assign the copyright to the Free Software
-Foundation, so that we could install it in @enddots{}
+Foundation, so that we could install it in <VAR>program</VAR>?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
-If person wants more information, you can send per
+If the contributor wants more information, you can send per
<TT>`<a href="conditions.text">/gd/gnuorg/conditions.text</a>'</TT>, which explains per options (assign
vs. disclaim) and their consequences.
@@ -124,9 +124,9 @@
<P>
If a contributor is reluctant to sign an assignment for a large change,
and is willing to sign a disclaimer instead, that is acceptable, so you
-should offer this alternative if it seems useful. While we prefer an
-assignment for a larger change, so that we can enforce the GNU GPL for
-the new text, a disclaimer is enough to let us use the text.
+should offer this alternative if it helps you reach agreement. We
+prefer an assignment for a larger change, so that we can enforce the GNU
+GPL for the new text, but a disclaimer is enough to let us use the text.
</P>
<P>
@@ -142,27 +142,27 @@
<P>
<STRONG>Although there are other templates besides the ones listed here,
they are for special circumstances; please do not use them without
-getting advice from Richard Stallman.</STRONG>
+getting advice from <A HREF="mailto:legal@gnu.org"><TT>legal@gnu.org</TT></A>.</STRONG>
</P>
<P>
-If you are not sure what to do, then please ask Richard Stallman for
+If you are not sure what to do, then please ask <A HREF="mailto:legal@gnu.org"><TT>legal@gnu.org</TT></A> for
advice; if the contributor asks you questions about the meaning and
consequences of the legal papers, and you don't know the answers, you
-can forward them to Stallman.
+can forward them to <A HREF="mailto:legal@gnu.org"><TT>legal@gnu.org</TT></A> and we will answer.
</P>
<P>
<STRONG>Please do not try changing the wording of a template yourself.
-If you think a change is needed, please talk with Richard Stallman, who
-will work with a lawyer to decide what to do.</STRONG>
+If you think a change is needed, please talk with <A HREF="mailto:legal@gnu.org"><TT>legal@gnu.org</TT></A>,
+and we will work with a lawyer to decide what to do.</STRONG>
</P>
<P><HR><P>
<blockquote>
<i>This file copied from <a
- href="http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/prep/maintain_toc.html">http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/prep/maintain_toc.html</a>
+ href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain_toc.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain_toc.html</a>
with a couple of links added.</i>
</blockquote>
--
Joseph S. Myers
jsm28@cam.ac.uk