kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/19/2017 10:35 AM, José Ignacio wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 7:52 PM, Rene Pöschl <poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>     On 19 Sep 2017 2:05 am, "José Ignacio" <jose.cyborg@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto: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.

Contributors to KiCad keep ownership of their contributions.  There is
no transfer of ownership to the project for source code, libraries,
documentation, translations, etc. that I am aware of.  It's been this
way since I joined the project so I'm not sure why you are concerned
with transfer of ownership.  The only concern is we now have an official
license for libraries where before that was not very well defined and if
you find the terms of this license acceptable as a contributor.

>  
> 
> 
>         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.
> 
> 
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