Committer Responsibilities Guidelines - Revision history

Robe: /* Purpose */

2023-10-29T18:07:31Z

Purpose

Arnulf: moved Commiter Responsibilities Guidelines to Committer Responsibilities Guidelines: typo fixed

2012-05-24T14:13:52Z

moved Commiter Responsibilities Guidelines to Committer Responsibilities Guidelines: typo fixed

Wiki-Jorgearevalo: /* Purpose */

2011-02-23T09:25:46Z

Purpose

Wiki-Yjacolin: /* Purpose */ update link for mapserver (after moving their host)

2009-03-31T20:21:19Z

Purpose: update link for mapserver (after moving their host)

Neteler at 15:52, 21 October 2007

2007-10-21T15:52:00Z

Warmerdam: fix one ref to mit/x.

2007-02-12T19:30:33Z

fix one ref to mit/x.

Warmerdam: New

2007-02-12T17:08:59Z

New

New page

= Document Status =

'''IncCom Document Number''': X

'''Version''': 1.0

'''Status''': draft

= Purpose =

In order to ensure the legal integrity of project source code, it is important for project commiters to understand legal requirements, and to ensure that code is not improperly added in source control. Before graduating incubation projects should ensure that clear guidelines and procedures are put in place for all commiters.

Some projects may ask for commiters to sign code contribution agreements that makes requirements clear. Other projects may just post commiter responsibilities and require that they be reviewed and agreed to before new commiters are authorized on the project.

In addition to legal requirements for commited code, it is also prudent to layout out expectations and procedures for commiters. Some examples of commiter guidelines can be found at:

* http://www.gdal.org/rfc3_commiters.html
* http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/development/rfc/ms-rfc-7/
* http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOT/4+Roles+and+Responsibilities

The following template is offered as appropriate text for a project to clarify legal expectations of code commiters.

= Template =

Commiters are the front line gatekeepers to keep the code base clear of improperly contributed code. It is important to the '''project-name''' users, developers and the OSGeo foundation to avoid contributing any code to the project without it being clearly licensed under the project license.

Generally speaking the key issues are that those providing code to be included in the repository understand that the code will be released under the '''project-license''' license, and that the person providing the code has the right to contribute the code. For the commiter themselves understanding about the license is hopefully clear. For other contributors, the commiter should verify the understanding unless the commiter is very comfortable that the contributor understands the license (for instance frequent contributors).

If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work time, as part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an appropriate representative of the employer understand that the code will be contributed under the MIT/X license. The arrangement should be cleared with an authorized supervisor/manager, etc.

The code should be developed by the contributor, or the code should be from a source which can be rightfully contributed such as from the public domain, or from an open source project under a compatible license.

All unusual situations need to be discussed and/or documented.

Commiters should adhere to the following guidelines, and may be personally legally liable for improperly contributing code to the source repository:

* Make sure the contributor (and possibly employer) is aware of the contribution terms.
* Code coming from a source other than the contributor (such as adapted from another project) should be clearly marked as to the original source, copyright holders, license terms and so forth. This information can be in the file headers, but should also be added to the project licensing file if not exactly matching normal project licensing (LICENSE.txt).
* Existing copyright headers and license text should never be stripped from a file. If a copyright holder wishes to give up copyright they must do so in writing to the foundation before copyright messages are removed. If license terms are changed it has to be by agreement (written in email is ok) of the copyright holders.
* When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as substantial patches) the author/contributor should be added to the list of copyright holders for the file.
* If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering committee, or the foundation legal counsel.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 = Purpose =
-In order to ensure the legal integrity of project source code, it is important for project commiters to understand legal requirements, and to ensure that code is not improperly added in source control.  Before graduating incubation projects should ensure that clear guidelines and procedures are put in place for all commiters.
+In order to ensure the legal integrity of project source code, it is important for project committers to understand legal requirements, and to ensure that code is not improperly added in source control.  Before graduating incubation projects should ensure that clear guidelines and procedures are put in place for all committers.
-Some projects may ask for commiters to sign code contribution agreements that makes requirements clear.  Other projects may just post commiter responsibilities and require that they be reviewed and agreed to before new commiters are authorized on the project.
+Some projects may ask for committers to sign code contribution agreements that makes requirements clear.  Other projects may just post committer responsibilities and require that they be reviewed and agreed to before new committers are authorized on the project.
-In addition to legal requirements for commited code, it is also prudent to layout out expectations and procedures for commiters.  Some examples of commiter guidelines can be found at:
+In addition to legal requirements for committed code, it is also prudent to layout out expectations and procedures for committers.  Some examples of committer guidelines can be found at:
-* http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc3_commiters
+* https://gdal.org/development/rfc/rfc3_commiters.html
-* http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-7.1.html
+* https://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-7.2.html
-The following template is offered as appropriate text for a project to clarify legal expectations of code commiters.
+The following template is offered as appropriate text for a project to clarify legal expectations of code committers.
 = Template =

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:52, 21 October 2007
Line 40:		Line 40:
	* When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as substantial patches) the author/contributor should be added to the list of copyright holders for the file.		* When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as substantial patches) the author/contributor should be added to the list of copyright holders for the file.
	* If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering committee, or the foundation legal counsel.		* If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering committee, or the foundation legal counsel.
		+
		+	[[Category: Incubation]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 14:13, 24 May 2012
(No difference)

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 * http://www.gdal.org/rfc3_commiters.html
-* http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/development/rfc/ms-rfc-7/
+* http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-7.1.html
 * http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOT/4+Roles+and+Responsibilities
 The following template is offered as appropriate text for a project to clarify legal expectations of code commiters.
 = Template =

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Generally speaking the key issues are that those providing code to be included in the repository understand that the code will be released under the '''project-license''' license, and that the person providing the code has the right to contribute the code. For the commiter themselves understanding about the license is hopefully clear. For other contributors, the commiter should verify the understanding unless the commiter is very comfortable that the contributor understands the license (for instance frequent contributors).
-If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work time, as part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an appropriate representative of the employer understand that the code will be contributed under the MIT/X license. The arrangement should be cleared with an authorized supervisor/manager, etc.
+If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work time, as part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an appropriate representative of the employer understand that the code will be contributed under the '''project-license''' license. The arrangement should be cleared with an authorized supervisor/manager, etc.
 The code should be developed by the contributor, or the code should be from a source which can be rightfully contributed such as from the public domain, or from an open source project under a compatible license.