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Re: Why not contribute? (to GCC)
Mark Mielke <mark@mark.mielke.cc> writes:
> Wouldn't contributing a patch to be read by the person who will be
> solving the problem, but without transferring of rights, introduce
> risk or liability for the FSF and GCC?
>
> I thought "clean room implementation" implies not seeing how somebody
> else did it first, as the "clean" part is tainted after somebody
> examines the patch?
Clean room implementation techniques are not required to avoid
copyright violations. Copyright only covers the expression of an
idea; it does not cover the idea itself. Expressing the same idea in
different code is not a copyright violation. Even independent
identical expressions are not copyright violations if they are truly
independent. And if there is only one possible way to express an
idea, then copyright does not apply at all, as there is no creative
aspect to the work.
Ian