kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[José Ignacio <jose.cyborg@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 7:52 PM, Rene Pöschl <poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>
> On 19 Sep 2017 2:05 am, "José Ignacio" <jose.cyborg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Probably, contributors would need to agree to be attributed as a group
> when the work is embedded in a design (When the library is distributed in
> whole or part they should get attributed individually as the GPL requires).
> Ownership transfer shouldn't be necessary. a CLA is a good idea anyway to
> ensure all contributions are licensed with all the terms you think they
> are, and everyone is given proper attribution.
>
>
> I think ownership transfer happens automatically when opening a pull
> request. But having contributers sign an explicit agreement can't hurt.
>

A pull request is not sufficient to transfer ownership of a copyrighted
work, unless that was specified in an agreement you signed beforehand, all
contributions are owned by the respective contributors, but the project is
granted a GPL license to use the contributed work, which can't be revoked
(unless the project messes up in version 2). But since the GPL does not
allow relicensing, the contributors must all agree to any licensing change.


>
> The attribution requirement for case #2 ideally would be a simple "Using
> symbols/footprints/models for the Kicad project's library, version X" plus
> some permalink where the GPL versions of the libraries can be obtained,
> together with the attribution information (embedded in the GIT history, or
> preferably an AUTHORS file). If that's not agreeable, perhaps an AUTHORS
> file that can be downloaded and bundled with a non-gpl design should comply
> with the attribution requirement.
>
>
> for #2 we used the font exception. We also have a credits file that has a
> dual purpose of documenting where the models come from (script or mcad
> software example freecad) and who made them. I don't think this would be
> practical for other libs though. (it already creates merge conflicts in the
> 3d repo.)
>

That would need to be fixed somehow. It would be nice if GPL+FE compliance
was just a few clicks away rather than having to hunt down lists of
contributors.